TalentPeople Blog

The degree apprenticeship programme needs greater clarity in quality and delivery standards, and diversification away from management degrees in order to be truly successful, says David Allison

 They say patience is a virtue but with GetMyFirstJob you no longer have to wait for applications; once your vacancy has been added, you can start searching the TalentPortal database for suitable candidates. 

We do not provide our young people with enough information – especially not in terms of money – on their pathways through further and higher education.

The Power of Partnerships - GetMyFirstJob has just enjoyed a bumper summer of activities. On behalf of our training and education partners, we’ve interacted with more engaged young people, careers advisers and schools than ever before. For me, one of the big breakthroughs has been the way in which we’ve been able to create real benefit by partnering with some great youth organisations across the UK, together reaching over 2 million young people every year.

A couple of weeks ago I asked my LinkedIn connections to fill in a short survey about apprenticeships – just a snapshot survey to commemorate my one year anniversary in the sector, and to help me take a step back and see the wood for the trees again. There has been so much change in Apprenticeships in the last year, particularly the potential impact of Brexit on future talent, the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, not to mention the election and (another!) change of government minister overseeing its roll out. 

GMFJs very own MD David Allison speaks about the future reflecting on the skills challenges and why we should be planning yesterday for the implementation of Apprenticeship and Early Talent programmes.

April 2017 saw the launch of the Apprenticeship Levy and 4 months on, we know there is a lot of information to digest on the subject. Using our experience, we wanted to simplify the vast amount of information and answer some of the most frequently asked questions.

A Level Results Day and GCSE Results Day are key dates- young people across the country are at the beginning of their next step.

As part of our strategy to engage more people with apprenticeships, and to help and support young people, schools, advisors and parents on these days, we have created some great resources to download, so that everyone has the best information possible to make their decision right for them.

One of the governments aims is to increase the proportion of apprentices from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities by 20 per cent. The government is also working towards getting more young women into apprenticeships that men tend to work in such as engineering. Employers are making sure that they have a diverse workforce so that they attract more minorities into their apprenticeship scheme. Rolls-Royce particularly have a reputation for ‘creativity and excellence’ and to them, diversity is essential to maintaining their ‘world class offer’. Rolls-Royce is looking to their own apprenticeship scheme to ensure it builds an ‘inclusive next generation of inspiring innovators’. So how can you make sure your apprenticeship scheme is diverse?

Fewer University Applications

You may have heard recently that some familiar faces from the BBC are on a huge amount of money and more staggeringly, the male TV stars are on far more than highest paid female stars. For example, Chris Evans is paid between £2,200,000 – £2,249,999, he is the highest paid male ‘talent’ as the BBC calls them. And Claudia Winkleman earns between £450,000 – £500,000, that is a huge disparity.
The BBC has long suffered from allegations about their stars not being paid equally to one another. It has only been after the BBC was compelled to publish these figures under the terms of its royal charter, have we seen the true figures. Even the Prime Minister has weighed in on this issue stating, ‘What’s important is that the BBC looks at the question of paying men and women the same for doing the same job.’ Everyone is calling for equality.

Is internal training via apprenticeships the way to tackle the skills shortage?

There are many different factors that have caused the skills shortage that has intensified over the recent months. Part of the problem is the uncertainty that faces us all after the Brexit outcome. For example, many companies who rely on EU workers are being faced with them leaving the country due to uncertainty surrounding whether they can stay and work.

Degree apprenticeships are now the future as the research in this blog explains. Degree apprenticeships fill the gap between an advanced apprenticeship and university and create something that allows a student to work their way up an organisation all while studying for a degree in a number of different industries. This option is made more attractive now due to university tuition fees being on the rise and employers looking at ways to retain their talent. Degree apprenticeships meet this need.

Know your audience

It’s a well-known fact that leaving school is a stressful and confusing time. Our post-millennials or generation Z are no exceptions, in fact, it might be more difficult for them, as post-millennials are faced with more choices than ever before.

‘The Big Assembly’ taking place during National Apprenticeship Week attempts to set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for the largest online careers advice seminar EVER.