Premier education
Margie became an apprentice at 53
I felt sick on the first day but I look back and think it was because of the excitement at being given another chance. I was worried about getting the English and Maths sorted. Back in the 70s when I was at school it was all done with pen, paper and brains so I found having to do it all on the computer suddenly quite daunting. Not at all. There were a few 19 and 20-year-olds in the classroom but on the whole it was more mature students and several my age. The company is so supportive and has even called them ageless apprenticeships or pensionships. training when I was 29.
However, this was a whole new challenge. I thought apprenticeships were just for youngsters so to find out that it was perfectly acceptable for me to do one was a surprise. I have learned so much, from how to hold meetings to managing spreadsheets. Once I passed last year I was promoted to a duty manager which means when I am on shift I am in charge. grow. I have never felt so proud when I passed. I kept thinking to myself that getting the equivalent to an A-level at the age of 53 was pretty impressive. My son, who is 20, is proud too. For the time being I’m staying steady but I’ve been offered the chance to take Level 4 and I might well go for it. It has all made me feel so empowered – I’m seriously tempted to keep going. this year, consisting of 600 apprenticeships in Premier Inn (chef and head chef, reception, housekeeping and food and beverage combined, team leader/host and assistant/operations managers), 320 in restaurants (chef and kitchen manager) and 330 in Costa (barista and assistant store manager). Travelodge (careers.travelodge.co.uk) has 550 opportunities up for grabs.
At fish4jobs.co.uk we found 3,654 jobs in hospitality, including a bar supervisor in Bristol (£18,263 to £20,411), breakfast and cleaning staff at a hotel in Manchester (£16,300) and a part-time cook in Cambridge (£11,440).
When we checked Jobcentre Plus (gov.uk/jobsearch) we found 2,245 general hospitality jobs, 654 events roles, 1,090 waiters, 2,001 bar staff, and 1,993 specific hotel jobs.
Also check out the caterer.com website which has 19,128 jobs, including 5,245 hotel jobs.
Meanwhile getingofar.gov.uk has 498 relevant apprenticeships.
Were you worried about going back to ‘school’? Were you the only ‘oldie’? How has it changed your job? Was it difficult? I was so excited to be given another chance
Apprenticeships offer a great opportunity for people of all ages, not just school leavers.
People aged over 45 now account for 13% of all apprentices and an impressive 4,000 over-60s have started their apprenticeships in the past year.
Companies large and small, such as Barclays (joinus.barclays.com/emea/ apprenticeships) are finally seeing the merits of taking on older apprentices.
The minimum wage for the first year is £3.70 an hour (from April) for apprentices aged 19 or over, this rises to £7.83 from the second year onwards.
What next?