Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council and member of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network, explains why hiring apprentices has made a real difference to his organisation.
As a local authority we have an extra responsibility to young people in the area, particularly in terms of education and training. The decision to offer Apprenticeships with Barking and Dagenham council, therefore, was an easy one to take.
We value greatly the young people of our borough. We know that they are a talented and hardworking bunch, and we wanted to build on these talents. This is why we took on 120 apprentices last year in areas ranging from education to horticulture and from social care to business.
Apprentices bring a special set of skills to the Council. Our workforce has become refreshed and invigorated by the influx young people, who are energetic and eager to learn. Conversely, the young people on the programme develop a huge range of skills, get real qualifications and are opened up to the huge rewards that working in public service can bring.
We don’t do this out of simple altruism, however. As a large, complex and multi-faceted organisation, the Council has a responsibility for developing and maintaining a properly skilled workforce. It is essential that people working for us are competent and capable, effective and efficient, cohesive and motivated and bring real benefits to performance and delivery of so many vital services to the community. Hiring apprentices means we have teams of young people working with us to achieve this vision.
Our Apprenticeship Development Team scours the borough for talented young people willing to take up Apprenticeship programmes. The beauty of Apprenticeships is that they can open career doors for people who haven’t been fully engaged in learning before. Often they aren’t in any form of work or education, for some the chances of meaningful long term employment are limited. Apprenticeship programmes give these young people a real chance to show what they can do in the workplace – and the results are often mind-blowing.
Take Hidy Larcher. When we first approached Hidy she was so nervous about undertaking any form of study that she nearly didn’t join the Apprenticeships programme. Luckily for us she did – and less than a year after beginning her Health and Social care Apprenticeship Hidy was named ‘Apprentice of the Year’ at the Thames Gateway business awards. . This is a phenomenal achievement and great testament to the ability of Apprenticeships to unlock potential.
There can be logistical challenges in ensuring that apprentices are getting the right balance between work and study. This kind of time management, however, is an essential skill for young people to learn as they enter the world of work and by developing close working relationships with local Further Education providers everything’s working out fine.
As 17 year old Billy Benmore is a shining example of how this can work for the benefit of all involved. Billy is actually on placement in the Adult College in Dagenham, as part of his business and Administration Apprenticeship. In fact, Billy has been so impressive that he’s due to take part in a job swap with Steve Lee, Apprenticeship Development Manager, as part of Apprenticeship week.
Hundreds of events around the country this week will show the versatility and richness of the contributions made by apprentices across the country. We’ll be advertising for our new recruitment round of apprentices, and holding open days throughout the borough.
Over the coming years, Barking and Dagenham Council is committed to hiring 750 new apprentices. In our corner of the Capital we wouldn’t be without our team of apprentices, making a real difference to Barking and Dagenham every day.
Apprenticeship Week takes place from 1 to 5 February. To find out more about hiring an apprentice visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk or call 08000 150 600.