This week is National Apprentice Week and a great way gain skilled employees who you can train specifically to deliver your own products and services.

The Apprenticeships Website tell us that Apprentiships are the proven way to train your workforce. Apprenticeships can make your organisation more effective, productive and competitive by addressing your skills gaps directly, even in uncertain economic times.

There are real business benefits to taking on apprentices. This section outlines these benefits as well as answering other questions you may have about Apprenticeships.

The Apprenticeship programme has been designed to help your employees reach a high level of competency and performance and with over 180 different types of Apprenticeships, there’s bound to be a place for an apprentice in your organisation.

Phil Worthington from SCT Global and Orbis Training states that

'Taking on an apprentice is a very cost effective way to build your business whilst at the same time providing a young person aged 16-18 with the opportunity to learn new skills and gain recognised qualifications. As an apprenticeship contract holder with the Skills Funding Agency, we are able to provide apprenticeships in Sports Operations, Sports Activity and IT User.

The IT User apprenticeship is perfect for any business. Most businesses use IT extensively in their day to day operations, and the IT User apprenticeship is perfect for companies who need support in the workplace in an administrative role.

There are 2 opportunities for local businesses, 1. Take on your own apprentice, the commitment is for 9 months and you are required to pay them £95 per week. Alternatively, provide some work experience for the apprentices we are taking on in March. 5 young people will start with us and whilst we will be able to keep them extremely busy! If you can provide them with 1 or 2 weeks work experience it will allow them to widen their horizons!'.

If you would like to speak to Phil or a member of the team about apprenticeships for your business, contact him on 01204 689593

If you are looking for staff but do not want to go down the route of employing an apprentice, speak with Good People  who specialise in providing recruitment and training services for a wide range of roles throughout the North West. The team at Good People would be happy to discuss your business requirements and help you find the right member of staff to fill your vacancy. Contact Good People on 01204 876755