Employers acknowledge value of recruiting and training new staff through an apprenticeship

The number of individuals finding an apprenticeship via Progress to Excellence Ltd has soared over the past 12 months, with more than 100 apprenticeship vacancies filled with employers throughout England during this period.

A total of 108 people began apprenticeship training with Progress to Excellence Ltd between July 2017 and July 2018. Of these, 58 were in childcare, 13 each in dental nursing and business administration and six in health and social care. The rest were split between the other sectors where Progress to Excellence Ltd offers apprenticeship training, including facilities management, customer service and learning and development.

Damian Burdin, Chief Executive at Progress to Excellence Ltd, said: “The success rate in filling apprenticeship vacancies for employers across the country is a clear example that employers acknowledge the value of recruiting and training new staff through an apprenticeship. 

“From our perspective, we are firmly committed to delivering high quality, sector-specific training relevant to the wide range of businesses we support.

“But it’s more than that; we support our employers throughout all stages of the apprenticeship journey and give them all the information they need to know about an apprenticeship. That way they know what is expected of them during the apprenticeship in order to secure successful learning outcomes for their staff.

“For the apprentices themselves, they too are fully supported through every step of their journey – from the interview process for an apprenticeship vacancy right through to them gaining their qualifications.

“As a people-focussed organisation, we are delighted to see so many apprentices successfully placed in businesses where they are able to expand their own skills and knowledge and become great assets to their employers.”

Talking of her business’ experiences with the Apprenticeship Recruitment Service, Linda Dawson, from Gee & Watson Wealth Management Ltd, said: “We have used Progress to Excellence to recruit numerous apprentices for us, the most recent being Hope who joined us as a business administration apprentice in May this year. 

“The whole process from start to finish was very easy and straightforward, that’s why Progress to Excellence was our first and only call when we needed a new member of staff. 

“We are a massive advocate of recruiting apprentices into our business as they are bright and focused individuals who become good members of our team. They are already committed to training and developing themselves and, with Progress to Excellence delivering the training, we can get on with running our business.

“It is also a cost-effective way of recruiting new staff as the recruitment element is completely free. We just contribute towards the training costs. We have used this service a few times and each time we have always been very happy with our new apprentice.” 

The Apprenticeship Recruitment Service is available to all employers, old and new, and is a free service. Once in post, the apprentice is trained within the workplace by Progress to Excellence Ltd.

Under the Apprenticeship Funding Reforms, the employer will make a contribution or pay for the costs of this training.