The benefits of hiring an apprentice

A unique business needs unique talent. Apprentices learn on the job, and their learning is orientated around your business’s goals. That’s why 86% of employers agree that apprenticeships helped them gain relevant skills for their organisation.

If you know that your organisation has a shortage in data talent, you can focus your apprenticeship programme around data analyst apprenticeships, and have confidence that they’ll be ready to hit the ground running and make a real impact in your business.

One of the drawbacks (other than cost) of hiring pre-qualified, experienced talent, is that since your business is unique, there’s no guarantee that the experience they bring will align well with what you need. This isn’t an issue with an apprentice.

A shortage of talent and skills in in-demand specialisms, such as cyber security, AI and cloud, is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses now and into the future. Businesses need AI professionals to integrate new technologies into their organisations. They need data specialists to manage and process vast amounts of data, and they need the IT and cloud infrastructure to support these large transformational plans.

Apprenticeships are one of the best ways to bring in new talent to fix these skills gaps. With an apprenticeship, you can specifically the target the areas where you need talent most. We work with businesses to identify these skills gaps, and close them by finding brilliant talent to fill those roles.

One of the primary benefits of apprenticeships is how cost-effective they are for businesses. The apprenticeship levy supports levy-paying businesses in funding apprenticeships, giving businesses access to new skills and talent, without having to hire talent that are already in the workforce.

This also applies to existing staff. Apprenticeship funding gives employers the option to upskill existing members of their team with an apprenticeship programme, a cost-effective alternative to traditional training or courses.

Not only is the raw potential of apprenticeship talent a far larger and more accessible pool compared to pre-qualified talent; it’s also more diverse.

Existing tech talent typically come from a higher education background, which is less accessible for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds or minority demographics.

By choosing apprenticeships instead of hiring expensive ready-made technicians, you create opportunities for those otherwise blocked from accessing tech careers, and under-represented in the industry.

But that’s not all. It also represents numerous business advantages.

At a glance, here’s what you stand to gain by harnessing diverse apprenticeship talent:

• 15% better chance of outperforming your peers due to gender diversity, and 35% for ethnic diversity, McKinsey
• 30% improvement on team performance, Gartner
• Become more attractive to the 76% of candidates who look for diversity when choosing an employees, Glassdoor
• 70% better likelihood of capturing new markets, Harvard business review

Apprentices benefit from cutting-edge learning in their chosen field. By hiring an apprentice with QA, you benefit from fresh talent, who are aware of the latest innovations in AI, cloud and data, who can then bring that knowledge into your organisation.

For example, an apprentice enrolled in AWS Cloud or Azure Cloud, may bring the knowhow and skill set to successful support with cloud adoption projects in those technologies. This fresh injection of skills and enthusiasm is another reason why taking on an apprentice is a great choice for employers.

The AI revolution is here and businesses need to be ready and they need talent that’s ready. We have an extensive portfolio of AI training, which can support the foundational and technical training needed in AI. And apprentices that know AI, are only going to become more and more critical in the future.

Apprenticeship training is all about preparing talent for the world of work. By hiring a tech apprentice, you know you’re getting a motivated individual, that’s ready get stuck into their new role.

This is where apprentices differ from graduates. Apprenticeship training includes real-life scenarios and time spent in a place of work, meaning less transition and adaption to a full-time role with an organisation.

There’s one thing we haven’t mentioned which deeply defines apprenticeship talent:they are motivated to learn and grow with your business.

That can’t be said for every employee. Many are resistant to training, which poses a growing problem with so many new skills (including those in brand new technologies) becoming more crucial by the day, and the poor influx of new talent unable to fill the gaps.

Enter; apprenticeships… and your new culture of ‘lifelong learning’. New talent focused on building futureproof skills can inspire others to do the same.

And for apprentices themselves, what better motivation that an entirely free, recognised qualification and the security of holding digital skills which will set them in good stead for the future.