A recent survey of businesses that are considering starting apprenticeships
has shown that more than a quarter think the recruitment process for taking on
apprentices should be made simpler.
The survey by City & Guilds showed that 89 per cent of the employers and HR
managers surveyed felt that apprenticeships were crucial to their companies'
future success, but that the process of actually setting up a scheme remained
an impediment.
More than 80 per cent of the people surveyed said they had already experienced
barriers in trying to recruit apprentices, while 26 per cent said it was
important for the process to be made simpler and less time consuming.
Commenting on the survey, the chief executive of the Financial Services Skills
Council, Liz Field, said that employer-hosted training programmes were gaining
credence, especially with steadily rising university fees. She emphasised that
the means of instigating and recruiting for the schemes, however, needed to be
streamlined.
Geoff Newman who works for online recruitment company Recruitment Genius currently employees several apprentices. He commented “apprenticeships
are a win-win situation for everyone. The training is very closely aligned with
the business requirements and the apprentices get solid business skills that
even some graduates lack.”
