For Thea Tanner, commercial and propositions director, BT Wholesale, blended learning is the key to success.
She said, “Companies must ensure that they develop a programme that enables apprentices to learn not only the technical elements of the channel, but also absorb transferrable skills for future jobs."
Tanner explained that BT Wholesale has run an apprenticeship programme for many years, and has found that, for apprentices to be successful and get the most out of the experience, a "blended learning approach" is most effective.
She added, “Most of the training takes place on the job, but 20 per cent of an apprentice’s time is leveraged for classroom-based learning. This ensures they can gain both practical and theoretical experience.
Additionally, an effective apprenticeship programme should not only target school leavers, but should also offer entry points for those at both GCSE and A-Level age groups to tackle youth unemployment and widen the talent pool. This also helps to support Diversity and Inclusion strategies by ensuring that a variety of people have the opportunity to work in the channel.
Donna Bain, SVP, people and development, Westcon-Comstor, pinpointed the importance of working with management to ensure apprentices have the support they will need to be successful.
She said, “Ensuring that the management team has support, and a substantial preparation period is vital. As apprentices have often only recently left school, there can be a steep learning curve, so it’s important that the team is aware of this and knows how to handle this transition accordingly. Securing management buy-in at an early stage will allow for expectations to be set and training difficulties to be minimised.
“Starting a career in a large organisation at such a young age can be overwhelming, particularly for those from under-represented backgrounds. To help our young employees reach their full potential, and feel supported along the way, we foster a range of communities within the business that encourage everything from upskilling to personal development.
“The apprentices also benefit from a dedicated apprenticeship programme lead who supports the group throughout the duration of the scheme. While the training and educational aspects of an apprenticeship programme are certainly vital, the availability of support and encouragement for the cohort cannot be understated.
Kathleen Pai, chief people officer, N-able, emphasised the benefits of taking a holistic view of business requirements to ensure the company brings in apprentices who will develop their talents in the right areas.
She said, “A good starting place is to first analyse the needs of the business. Where are your future talent needs? What areas of the business need support today that someone in an apprentice programme could provide value to either now or in the future? For example, at N-able, we focus our apprenticeship programme on our engineering group because this is an area of continuous growth.
“We have immediate, as well as future, needs in this area from a talent perspective. As you begin to establish your programme, then you can look to scale strategically to other areas of the business.”
Rob Stevens, operations director, Jola, added, “We look to match new roles to available courses in each department. We work with a specialist agency that helps us to recruit the right candidates for our roles and supports our apprentices to complete their training courses. The blend of obtaining educational qualifications at the same time as learning on the job works well for us.”
External expertise
That external input can be essential, particularly for channel companies that are at an early stage of their apprenticeship journey. For Westcon-Comstor’s Bain, external support is required to ensure the training provided to new recruits is sufficient. She said, “A company’s training partner will be integral to the success of its programme, assisting with everything from the mechanics of hiring and onboarding apprentices to the provision of ongoing support to the management team.
“Connecting with a training partner early on in the process to solidify important company values and goals will ensure that candidates with the right characteristics and traits are identified. From here, support will be offered throughout the programme, enabling the scheme to yield the strongest results for all parties.
“Channel companies can also partner with charitable organisations to actively spread awareness of the industry and its opportunities to disadvantaged groups. At Westcon-Comstor, creating opportunities for under-represented communities is a huge priority, so we’ve partnered with Migrant Leaders, a development programme for young first and second-generation migrant adults, to teach its participants about our business and the different careers available. This allows more young people to pursue opportunities to work in the channel and ensures our business is made up of a wide range of people, bringing diverse and creative ideas to our partners.”
Jola’s Stevens agreed with that perspective. He said, “Jola has worked with three different apprenticeship training providers over the years. Each one has offered end-to-end support from recruitment, and training through to successful course completion. Courses are made accessible using a mix of online and face-to-face tutoring as well as on-the-job training and projects.
“The courses provide an understanding of important concepts, which our apprentices use and incorporate into our business. The apprenticeship schemes help the whole company to evolve in a positive way.”
Jeanna Wenham, HR business partner, EMEA, 8x8, added, “At 8x8 we partner with apprenticeship training providers. They help us identify apprenticeship courses that are suitable for our business and employees. They also offer a coach to every apprentice. However, companies need to understand that you can’t just set up an apprenticeship initiative and think it’s done.
“It takes a lot of internal commitment, especially from senior management and line managers. One of the reasons for this is that apprentices need to spend 20 per cent of their time studying. Equally important is the fact that they need to have workplace mentors in place to share their knowledge and experiences, provide advice and offer support to the apprentices.”
Of course, some companies within the channel have found the resources they need from within the business. Pai, from N-able, said, “While looking externally can help support your company, building an apprenticeship programme in-house can help your business leverage existing relationships with universities to fill apprenticeship programme roles. N-able currently has five apprentices in its engineering group from two universities in Scotland, and we continue to collaborate with those universities each year to bring in new students to our apprenticeship programme.”
This is an extract from a feature that appeared in our February 2023 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.
This week is National Apprenticeship Week, which brings together the apprenticeship community to celebrate everything that is amazing about apprenticeships. The theme for this year is 'Skills for Life'. You can find out more here.