As many readers know I am passionate about getting young people into the Digital Jobs World. In recent weeks we’ve looked on this blog about “Manchester’s Destiny” and I’ve had near constant discussions with young people, local councillors, apprentice facilitators and businesses alike to try and ensure these businesses are investing the future of young people to help grow their business.
One of the questions from businesses that comes up in every conversation is simply, What is in it for my business? It’s a fair enough question and as it’s so common I want to share what I see as the 5 biggest business reasons for a business to take on a digital apprentice using a scheme such as those offered by The Apprentice Academy Manchester. Where I work, RedStar, have are employing an apprentice today and last years apprentice is now a full time web developer with us.
5 Great Reasons Your Business Should Hire An Apprentice
1. A Loyal Employee
There is a stonking myth that you will invest time and money in an apprentice and they will just swan off to a larger company. It is a Myth, it is NOT true!
According to UnionLearn, 74% of businesses said that apprentices were more loyal and remained with the company longer than non-apprentices.http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/business-case-offering-apprenticeships
And they aren’t just loyal they also help build you company skills capacity and in 81% of businesses said that apprentices help the whole team to have an overall higher productivity rate (UnionLearn).
2. It’s Cost-Effective
Taking on an apprentice is not costly, the apprentice will learn on the job and the government contributes towards the cost of learning. This means that you win because you have a great capacity to work, you also feel good because you are helping a young person and it’s a win for the young person who has a job and is being up-skilled constantly by a learning provider and your team.
Ok, you will have to invest time and some money during the first 6 to 12 months of taking on an apprentice, you will have to be able to support their learning – but after this time your business financially will benefit than if you recruit in other ways. The time investment is much more than that of a graduate entrant to your workplace. Also the minimum wage of an apprentice is currently £2.68 and you can get a gov’t grant of upto £1500 to help with these costs. It’s the mix of experience and education together which sets apprentices apart from other entry-level and graduate candidates.
3. Creates a Positive Brand Perception
Having an apprentice help your business give a fantastic impression, it demonstrates that you are planning for the long-term growth of your business over the next decade but also are an investor in young people. An apprentice in your work place will look great to those on the outside, such as clients and prospective investors, but also to your internal work force who can see that as a business you are wanting to grow – aspiration within a workforce can help improve productivity as a happy team is a productive team (in general).
4. Young People are Commercially Savvy and Tech Savvy
Generation Y, the Millennial’s, the Data Generation, call them what you will but todays young people are already fluent in the ways of the Internet, familiar with how to best use it and are aware of how social media and blogging can be best used – the reason is that they have grown up with it, they use it every day, and they have practical knowledge in how to use it to create engagement with an audience. The Data Generation are already working (probably without realising it in most cases) in the area of marketing you are wanting to reach out to online.
Here are some great stats to show that the Data Generation of the UK is more tech savvy than elsewhere.
- 85% of British teens own a smart phone, 9% higher than the world average.
- 82% own a laptop, this is 8% higher than the world average.
- 33% own a tablet, this is 5% higher than the world average.
5. Digital is Growing!
As we’ve looked at before, the Digital sector of the economy is growing (everywhere in the world). In the UK by 2017, there will be around 745,000 new Digital Jobs – that is a staggering growth. Consider in Manchester today we employ 45,000 digital and creatives, this is worth over £2bn to our economy – with the rapid growth we expect to see we know that there will be a shortage in our workforce. A digital apprentice from a great local provider can help you to grow your workforce today, so that in 2017 you’ve a strong and loyal workforce. Even if they are not a digital apprentices, having someone with the knowledge within your company is great for adaption to new technologies and processes
Looking back at history in the 70’s and 80’s we invested in apprentices for the construction industry, in the late 00’s we invested began investing in Digital Apprentices, the future will remain located on Digital Apprentices because, as my family keep reminding me, “everything is online these days”. Digital is Growing and it will continue to grow as more and more of the world comes “online”, having an apprentice can mean that your company is part of this growth.
This is Your Opportunity, Don’t Miss Out!
If you’ve made it this far, you are clearly interested in the prospect of hiring an apprentice to join your team. What you don’t want to do is miss out on the best candidates for your organisation or be rushing at the last minute and forget something important. So, hop over to Google and do a search for “hire an apprentice in ” or “hire a apprentice in ” and talk to local providers – not just one but as many as you can, all providers have different offerings from how a course is given to how they offer the apprentice and your team on going support.
To get you started here are a few websites to get you going:
> Apprentices for Small Businesses – Apprenticeships.org.uk (official apprentice website)
> Tameside Apprentices (council) / Manchester Apprentices (council)
> Providers in Gtr Manchester: Apprentice Academy Manchester, NITP, Tameside College, Bolton College, Manchester College
Original Content by SEO Andy @ 5 Awesome Business Cases to Hire an Apprentice