<\/p>\n
For National Apprenticeship Week, Derek Goff, Learning & Development Manager at Serocor Solutions Limited, tells us what he\u2019s learnt from the #RECapprenticeship scheme.<\/p>\n
The apprenticeship scheme was a no brainer for us at Serocor. We were involved in its creation and are aware of the quality of development and relevance of the qualification.<\/p>\n
For me, an apprenticeship is an opportunity to professionalise the industry through a robust, external validation of the learner\u2019s competence. It\u2019s there, it\u2019s good and it works.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learnt along the way.<\/p>\n
Get managers on board<\/strong><\/p>\n Management engagement is absolutely top of the agenda. If managers see apprentices as low skilled, low paid, just here to deal with the stuff that nobody wants to do, the learner doesn\u2019t learn anything, you don\u2019t get an outcome, and it\u2019s a waste of time.<\/p>\n The hardest lesson for me was getting that manager engagement at the outset \u2013 not just in terms of coaching, mentoring and developing the apprentice, but in terms of the manager\u2019s perception of what the apprenticeship is.<\/p>\n Apprenticeships are for the long term<\/strong><\/p>\n For us, the apprenticeships are a qualification route. Once an apprenticeship ends, that means that particular phase of training and development has ended, and you will move on to the next.<\/p>\n You have to think long term because otherwise it costs a lot of money. As an employer, we have to get a return on investment, and apprenticeships do require more investment. But it\u2019s worth it because we see a reduction in the time to competence. They are more competent, more quickly than they would have been otherwise.<\/p>\n Make time for learning away from the desk<\/strong><\/p>\n An apprenticeship often requires additional learning at home. They need to go away and practice, read and revise, particularly for their exams. When apprentices are doing really well with billings, placements and interviews, they can find that time away from desk quite difficult to fit in.<\/p>\n I work very closely with our training provider and assessor on a weekly basis. We have a meeting after they\u2019ve assessed the learners. I ask, \u2018Where are we at? Who\u2019s on track? Who\u2019s not? What do you need me to do?\u2019 in order to provide the relevant level of support.<\/p>\n Make use of external assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n Managers have the best intentions to be mentors and provide continuous development for staff, but they\u2019ve got all sorts of pressures that don\u2019t always facilitate it. We see the apprenticeship route as a method for independent continuous assessment over the 12-18 month period.<\/p>\n We value the opportunity for managers to sit down with the training provider and say: \u2018Tell me objectively what you see. What do we need to do to close any gaps?\u2019 You don\u2019t get that without external assessment.<\/p>\n Change your mind set<\/strong><\/p>\n We need to change the mind set about apprenticeships. An apprentice is not low-skilled, low-paid.<\/p>\n Our apprentices come in as junior recruitment consultants who happen to be on a programme of learning. They\u2019re on a normal contract of employment, not an end-date contract. They\u2019re not in a separate team and are fully integrated with all the other recruiters. They\u2019re treated in exactly the same way as anybody else, in terms of pay, benefits, bonuses and commission.<\/p>\n Anybody that sniffs at apprenticeships because they see it as beneath them \u2013 whether that\u2019s the manager, employer, or potential learner – they\u2019re missing a trick. The apprenticeship is brilliant if managed properly.<\/p>\n To find out more about apprenticeships in recruitment, visit\u00a0www.rec.uk.com\/apprenticeships.<\/p>\n National Apprenticeship Week is co-ordinated by the\u00a0National Apprenticeship Service\u00a0to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WHAT I\u2019VE LEARNT FROM BRINGING APPRENTICES INTO OUR ORGANISATION For National Apprenticeship Week, Derek Goff, Learning & Development Manager at Serocor Solutions Limited, tells us what he\u2019s learnt from the #RECapprenticeship scheme. The apprenticeship scheme was a no brainer for us at Serocor. We were involved in its creation and are aware of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n