Taking on an apprentice can be quite daunting as there is a lot you need to think about. Unlike taking on any other staff member, apprentices need a lot of time from you to be able to get up and running.
But what is an apprenticeship and how does it work?
An apprenticeship is a paid job where the employee learns and gains valuable experience by working alongside their training. Alongside on-the-job training, apprentices spend at least 20% of their working hours completing classroom-based learning with a college, university, or training provider which leads to a nationally recognised qualification- in our case, this is the AAT.
When you employ an apprentice, you can get funding for their day release. This means, in essence; you are getting the training for free and all you need to do is pay their wage (as expected), any other training required and any books/subscriptions that they need.
With an apprentice, you get out what you put in. So, if you do not spend time helping them along the way then you will not get good results. You cannot just leave them to go to college on day release and expect them to be perfect in the workplace. This, however, means that you can mold them to fit your business easily and become a great asset, but this does take up some of your time.
Here at Revis & Co, we have just hired our fifth apprentice (still having two with us), so we now employ 3 apprentices. We have found having apprentices to be amazing for our business as they have always been very keen to learn and progress in their careers. It also means that there are always progression steps for them, as they can start with the basics and eventually be qualified accountants.
All in all, hiring an apprentice is a fantastic route to take as long as you have the time to train them. It gives school leavers an amazing opportunity to earn whilst they learn, and it is incredible to see how they progress and improve throughout their career with you.
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