I was lucky enough to be invited along where we bring together key figureheads in the industry to discuss the future of apprenticeships and the legacy the apprenticeship levy will have created in 5 to 10 years’ time after its introduction in April 2017. This was a fantastic opportunity for me as there were some key people in the sector attending, for example, Euan Blair founder and CEO of WhiteHat, Andy Durman Managing Director of Emsi UK and Ian Grant UK Apprenticeship Manager at Amazon UK to name but a few.
Upon everyone arriving we started discussions, kicking off with a 10-minute talk by Andy Durman on what’s happening at a local level with regards to jobs. Andy, who is an ex-economist wanted to stress that the government and businesses should be tailoring apprenticeship schemes to different regional economies rather than on a national basis. This is to get the best possible candidates in that area and to make it easier for the apprentice and their employer.
This was interesting because the government said they want 3 million apprentices in employment by 2020, this is a huge feat and each region of the country needs to focus on the industries that they have the infrastructure for.
Following on from this and after having a small break, we started discussions on how candidates can be better informed and how apprenticeships could be more publicised and seen as a viable option against university. Just as Andy say's ‘we need to empower people to be better informed’. This is where I injected some background on what I went through and stated that people need better careers advice that focuses on the benefits of university and equally the benefits of apprenticeships, there needs to be more work done on getting young people better informed in what they can do once they have left school.
Euan Blair stated that ‘too many people go to university’ and he is absolutely correct. He also went on to say that schools should present more options for students, rather than automatically pushing them towards university. I think the people who are not sure about university should 100% consider an apprenticeship. To do this, careers advice and parents’ opinions need to change.
Apprenticeships are no longer low paid or only for people who want to work in trades environments - they are so much more than that! You can do whatever you want in an apprenticeship, you even study for a degree in your chosen field but get paid for doing so rather than paying someone else and accumulating debt. Now of course there are exceptions for this, if you want to be a brain surgeon then a university degree is your only way in. However, if you want to become a marketing whizz or a lawyer, an apprenticeship really is the way forward.
All in all, this was a fantastic opportunity for me. I learned a lot and met some very knowledgeable people, cannot wait to attend the next one!
