‘We’d love to see more recruiters getting into placing apprenticeships’

Peter Crush

Agencies are increasingly a crucial part of the apprenticeship system. But what does taking on apprentice candidates mean for the recruitment sector? Peter Crush finds out

Whatever you might think of them, apprenticeships – the post-school jobs route that suffered a severe crisis of confidence during the 1990s – are well and truly back.

Thanks to university students now entering the workplace saddled with debts averaging £43.515 (debts which only this month, officials conceded would leave graduates still paying them off well into their 40s), these once vilified pathways to employment are becoming attractive once again. According to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, there has been 1.5 million apprenticeship starts since 2010. Some 858,900 of these were from last year alone.

This growth shows no sign of abating. The National Apprenticeship Council predicts that year-on-year growth rates of a third since 2011 will continue this year (see box below for the most popular areas). With this growth though comes an interesting dilemma – whether traditional agencies dealing with graduates and professionals only – should become part of this burgeoning market too; whether they should tap into a segment that is proving to be sustained, and likely to be so for some years ahead.

Certainly, from a professional bodies’ point of view, there is broad support for it, says Fiona Lander, head of professional development, APSCo – who herself recently used an agency to take on two apprenticeships herself.  “While we might represent the professional services side of the industry, we would fully support this. We’d love to see more recruiters getting into placing apprenticeships – it’s a proven route.” She adds: “Those that do get placed have a great ethic, and tend to stay with their employers, so it’s trusted recruitment. Ultimately it gives young people their first step in life. You could say it really gets to the root of what agencies should be all about.”

Agencies are increasingly a crucial cog in the apprenticeship system. Schools and colleges – the providers of apprentice training – are experts in education but are often not as skilled as dealing with employers and matching young people to their needs. They are also shut down during the long holidays, and this is the time agencies can be on hand. But while there are growing numbers of agencies adding apprenticeship matching to their services, some say it’s not for all, and it’s an area they need to consider very carefully.

“Very often, our first job is to work with employers to actually convince them of the need to hire an apprenticeship in the first place,” says Will Cox, business manager at The Apprentice Agency. “That means canvassing employers, and selling the benefits of hiring apprentices compared to hiring an older person or someone just out of university. Very often, these employers have to then go away and do the sums before agreeing to take an apprentice on.”

He adds: “All this extra ground will make the process longer. Placing people can take three, to four and even five months, and the fees are pretty much the same as in regular recruitment. Add-in time finding a training provider who has places for them too, and it can be a while, and the process involves a lot of hand-holding with employers.”

All this has to happen before there are any actual selection processes that need to start to happen – the part recruitment agencies are most skilled at. And Lander says even here, there is an element of re-skilling needed: “It’s a very different process assessing a person for an apprentice position,” she concedes. “You’re dealing with people who are very young, potentially still at school, who haven’t matured yet; they are people who need nurturing and they require a totally different way of assessment. They won’t have any track record, so agencies will have to assess them on potential. This can be something that’s different to what they’re used to.”

Above all, she says, placing apprentices requires agencies to have razor-sharp business processes. “This is a sector that’s all about working with and being knowledgeable about government funding; keeping up to date with changes in funding policies, and generally keeping your nose to the ground,” she says. Adds Cox: “A simple change in policy – such as the government recently introducing career development loans – can see apprenticeship applicants fall.”

He adds: “Getting apprenticeships onto your books also needs proactive work – including dealing with social media, and being where people are online to speak to them, and register with us.” The Apprentice Agency actually uses paid advertising on Facebook, and can target to a specific town to advertise that a local company needs apprentices. But it entails some good internet knowledge to get right, and this agency is well adjusted to doing this – being primarily online to reduce its costs.

Those that do make the transition can make a huge success of it though. Kent based MiddletonMurray didn’t place apprentices at first, then it did, and now it’s all it does. Clients include Travelodge, Specsavers, Ibis Hotel and Gourmet Kitchen Burger. Among its pledges though, is a guarantee that if the young person they place doesn’t work out, they will offer a free replacement service, so this is the sort of service other agencies will have to start offering.

Will more follow this path? Lander hopes so. “The key though,” she argues, “is not just offering it because you see it as a business opportunity and a band-wagon that you can jump on to. If apprentice-placing is something agencies want to get into, my advice would be that they first have to have a passion for young people. It’s a complicated set of processes to get apprentices selected for employers, and if you don’t have passion, it will be hard to convince clients of this.” She concludes: “It’s not for everyone; if you don’t believe in the potential of young people, it’s not something you should do. But if you believe this isn’t a chore, it can be highly rewarding.”

NUMBER CRUNCHING

Top 3 fastest growing apprenticeship applications by sector:

• Health optical retail: +590%
• Vehicle sales: +500%
• Facilities management: +263%

Top 3 apprenticeship applications

• Business and administration: 384,840 applications made
• Childcare: 102,450 applications made
• Customer service: 98,210 applications made