After finishing my A-levels, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do going forward. I decided to go traveling and worked in a couple of different countries. This gave me time to think about my career progression, as well as gain great experiences traveling around Europe! Many people follow the crowd, going straight to university however this isn’t always the best route - you need to do what is right for you.
Employers nowadays are looking for experience as a priority over qualifications. The best way to get experience I hear you ask? Apprenticeships! The opportunity to get 4 years of commercial work experience is invaluable, gaining many skills along the way. Not forgetting the degree that also comes with it! Studying while you work requires good time management, however, is very doable, especially with the right support around you.
Since I started my degree apprenticeship, I’ve been able to gain 5+ years of commercial experience, graduated with a 2:1 in Business Management and placed almost 100 IT candidates, predominantly across Cambridgeshire! My placements range from entry-level service desk analysts through to Senior IT Managers, and everything in between, including Heads of Cyber Security, Senior DevOps Engineers, Senior Storage Engineers, Systems Admins and Network Engineers on both a permanent and contract basis.
I was able to implement the theory learned at university in my day-to-day work, such as time management, budgeting, marketing, people management and I also increased my commercial acumen, which all helped in me becoming the top biller in IT in 2022 and second highest in 2023.
Apprenticeships are a great way for companies to bring in promising talent provides employers the opportunity to train them and mould them to work ‘their way’, hopefully allowing apprentices to bring in new ideas/enthusiasm to the business and add some real value, all within a cost-effective way (should companies be utilising the apprenticeship levy).
The lack of talent is only predicted to grow wider, so help bridge that gap with apprentices! There are apprenticeships in almost all sectors including IT, Finance, HR, Marketing, Engineering, Administration... I could go on.
And remember, you’re never too old to be an apprentice – which is often a wrong misconception! This also means you can upskill your current staff via an apprenticeship, whether this be with a view for them to take on a new role within the business, or simply investing in your employees, increasing their knowledge in a particular subject that is relevant to their current role.
If you are looking to hire more talent in your team, contact us at info@theonegroup.co.uk.