Catch ‘em while they’re young

My way in life lay stretched out straight before me through the newly-entered road of apprenticeship to Joe

I’ve been hearing, and writing, a lot about apprenticeships in the past couple of weeks. Not only was the first week in March designated as National Apprenticeships Week, but I also went to a careers event at one of the local secondary schools. I was there to talk to a range of students from year 9 to year 11 (3^rd year to 5^th year in old money) about a career in journalism, how I got into it (by accident), how long I’ve been working in the sector (for ever), and who my inspirations are (Caitlin Moran, Nora Ephron, and Jay Rayner amongst many, many others). I also managed to shoehorn in a good few references to the construction sector, and to building materials in particular. It was gratifying that at least as many of the students were as interested in what I had to say about the opportunities in the construction sector as they were about those in journalism.

I mention apprenticeships because there was a chap from one of the local FE colleges talking to the students about apprenticeships, how to apply, why they should apply, what the benefits are. When I had a free session, I listened to him. Many of the students really brightened up at the mention of the fact that they could get paid whilst they were learning a trade, or specialist skills that would advance them in their careers. It’s an affluent middle-class area, so of course there were also plenty who were looking at A-Levels with a view to university degree studies, but the enthusiasm for getting out into the world of work was pretty encouraging.

The topic has hit the news in the last week or so again with the news from Westminster of a £60m investment to generate up to 20,000 apprenticeships nationwide, alongside very welcome changes to the apprenticeship levy and the reduction in the amount of red tape around the programmes. One of the things that has been putting businesses off the idea of offering apprenticeships is the number of bureaucratic hoops that they are expected to jump through. So, like every other Government scheme then?

Last year the BMF launched its Apprenticeship Pledge, with the hugely ambitious aim of recruiting 15,000 apprentices across the sector by 20230. Several organisations, including NMBS are supporting this, and I’ve been writing about some of them for the next issue. They are about two-thirds of the way there, so maybe it wasn’t so ambitious a reach after all. To help get to that target, there is a new renewed focus from the Learning and Development Team, which is revitalising the offer.

Apprenticeships don’t necessarily just appeal to the young people looking for their first role, either. There’s no reason why older people, moving careers or sectors shouldn’t be able to take advantage of the structured learning and development that such programmes offer. And for businesses, you get a talent pool, a pipeline of people who want to learn, who want to develop, who want to be the future of the industry.

This week I was at the Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants’ City & Livery Awards lunch, watching the presentations to the top performers amongst the organisations and affiliations that the Company supports. Including the BMF, three students of which received awards. I was sitting next to one youngster – I won’t embarrass him by naming him, but if he reads this, he’ll know it’s him – who’s working through his apprenticeship at a merchants at the moment. He looked across at Owen Sutton, the winner of the Apprentice of the Year Award, and said to me: “That’s what I want to win. I want to be where he is when I get to that stage.”

If all the industry apprentices have anything like that attitude, then we’re going to be ok.