Member Article

You’re Hired - apprentice firm comes of age

As businesses come and go, one north east training provider is serving its time well by helping employers to recruit the right young people to be the next generation of workers.

Five years ago, Business Impact UK Ltd was formed to work nationally with companies of all sizes to identify their training needs and help them to recruit and train young apprentices.

The Team Valley, Gateshead based company now has a national footprint and has recently enrolled apprentices for companies such as The Co-operative College, Chandlers BMW, PG Legal and WM Morrison PLC supermarket chain. The rise of the company can be attributed to a dedicated sales team coupled with expert trainers who deliver relevant work based skills to the young apprentices.

Another advantage, which has helped Business Impact grow, is the funding available to businesses as national sales manager, Nick Atkinson explained.

“If an employer takes on an apprentice aged between 16 to 18 years old, we are able to access and deliver fully funded training for them. This, in effect means a no cost apprentice recruitment for the employer.”

Business Impact looks after every stage in the recruitment process including writing job descriptions, advertising, screening suitable applicants and interviewing. They then train the successful applicant delivering a relevant apprenticeship. A government grant of £1500 is also available to smaller companies with less than 1000 employees to encourage them to take on younger apprentices.

In the last five years, the business has enrolled more than 13,000 learners from a staggering 887 companies all over the UK. Already this year, 1,849 learners have been enrolled onto their Apprenticeship programme and an additional 328 new jobs have been created for 16-18 year olds. Typically apprentices are recruited for business administration, telesales, manufacturing, health and social care and customer service rolls.

Leading by example, Business Impact have recruited and trained three teenage apprentices themselves including sales & marketing apprentice Carly Bolam.

“This is a great opportunity and I’m learning a lot about marketing and customer service,” said Carly, (18) from Gateshead. “ I’ve had some great training and I’m now taking part in marketing & social media campaigns to find other businesses to take on people like myself.”

“We know how valuable our three apprentices are to our organisation and it’s easy to show to our clients the benefits they can bring to a business,” said Nick.

“We’ve replicated our apprenticeship programme all around the country and proven how effective our no cost apprentice recruitment service is and we’re delighted to be celebrating five years of offering advice, training and a lot of expertise.

“ When you see how many apprentices we have placed and given those youngsters a fresh start, that really is the icing on the cake.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Highlights PR .