I LEARN, EARN AND TRAVEL TOO
IF you are looking to launch a career or retrain, an apprenticeship can be one of the best ways to start. To help you take that all important first step we have tracked down more than 50,000 opportunities for the coming year.
Whether it is the NHS – the UK’s largest single employer – or small local businesses, bosses need apprentices. Find the right one for you and your future is set.
This week is National Apprenticeship Week with companies, schools and colleges up and down the country highlighting the benefits of learning while earning. Visit https://nawevents.co.uk/ to find out what’s going on in your area...
The apprenticeships
There are 1,500 different job roles across 170 industries ranging from banking to defence and fashion to nuclear. A good place to start your search is apprenticeships.gov.uk (0808 239 7622) where we found 11,767 vacancies. The largest sectors are business, administration and law, with health, public services and care close behind.
The NHS (jobs.nhs.uk) took on 19,330 apprentices last year, from nursing to IT, and this year it needs more. “The NHS is treating more and more people every year, and we need 50,000 more nurses so that we can provide more services to meet that demand,” says Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England.
Check out Not Going to Uni (notgoingtouni.co.uk) which is listing 1,422 apprenticeships in areas from IT, accounting, business and admin, to childcare and sales.
The Armed Forces are one of the biggest recruiters of apprentices in the country.
Last year they took on 11,020 across the Royal Navy (royalnavy.mod.uk/careers), the Air Force (raf.mod.uk/recruitment/roles) and the Army (apply.army.mod.uk/whatwe-offer/regular-soldier/skills), while the civil service (civil-servicecareers.gov.uk/ways-to-join/) hopes to match the 5,460 apprentices it took on last year.
Meanwhile BAE Systems (baesystems.com/en-uk/careers/ careers-in-the-uk/apprenticeships) is taking on 800 new apprentices, and BT (BTplc.com) is hiring 700.
Hotel group Hilton (Hilton.com) is set to take on a record 76 apprentices in 2020, Aldi (aldirecruitment. co.uk) is looking to recruit 800 apprentices and crisp firm Kettle (kettlebrand.com) is offering 21 positions in roles ranging from IT to human resources.
The facts
Apprentices receive at least the national minimum wage, £3.90 per hour, rising to £4.15 in April, in the first year of their apprenticeship, although many employers will pay more than this. Apprenticeships are available to people of all ages making them a great option for anyone looking to change career, improve their skills, or re-enter the labour market.
The apprentice
Never thinking his love of photography could possibly be more than a hobby, Josh Gibson, 19, still can’t believe his luck to be an apprentice for travel giant TUI where he is working in the world of promotional video and photography.
“I can’t believe what I have been doing for the past 16 months,” says Josh from Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. “I have already been out to resorts four times on shoots and I have just got back from Mexico. Until I started this job I had never even been abroad.”
As an apprentice junior content producer Josh is part of a small team that determines what and how material should be filmed or photographed for all the company’s marketing, whether it is for brochures or online.
Josh adds: “My first job was just a short time after I had joined, I was straight in at the deep end. I went to Tenerife to support a shoot.
I was so nervous but a colleague told me to be as helpful as I could and it would be OK. It was good advice.”
All of Josh’s on-the-job training plus essays and assessments goes towards his Level 3 NVQ.
“It has all given me so much confidence,” he says. “I have even done presentations to senior colleagues and now I don’t think anything about packing my bags and heading off to a resort. I am the 360 degree film expert too on the team, which is great.”
While doing his A-levels, Josh applied for university but when he was quietly looking at alternatives he spotted the TUI advert.
“I had always thought apprenticeships only covered things like business and retail. I couldn’t believe it when I saw such a creative opportunity. I got my application in quickly.”
Josh is keen to encourage others to follow in his footsteps.
“In little more than a year I have found a world I love, have no debt, have been able to afford to learn to drive and buy a car, and know I’ll have a brilliant job at the end of it.”
TUI offers 20 different apprenticeships ranging from level 3 travel advisor to level 7 chartered management degree. Other apprenticeships include working in digital marketing, finance, legal, IT and aviation support.
See tuijobs.co.uk for more info.