With the build up to National Apprenticeship Week 2023 conversation across our team has been about how as a service provider can we stand out this year to be part of the celebration? Last year we highlighted Jamie our business admin apprentice who completed his level 3.

In the office we discussed some great ideas from the impactful social enterprise providers we work with highlighting their work with leaners from disadvantaged backgrounds really takin this years meaning of Skills for Life to uppermost meaning. But why should we steal their thunder!

A suggestion of highlighting the new standards launched over the last 6 months and the Skills for life they are going to support. Should we go recruitment boring and talk about the skills gap and the need to recruit talent and up skill them etc etc……we will let the competition do that! It was our wonderful administrator Ellie who suggested making a slight perception on the theme “Skills for Life” by talking about the people behind delivering those skills for life…..YOU! The amazing professionals within our sector, why do you do what you do? What do you love about working in apprenticeships? What do you think makes an apprenticeship the right choice for a learner?

We sent out this message to some of our clients and candidate’s last week here is a selection of the response we got back. The underlying message and theme was how driven, how proud, how passionate and how special people who work in are sector are!

Leadership & Management skills coach.

“I have worked in the sector for over 6 years now after an early career within procurement. The reason for my move after selling my business was to develop leaders within small organisations  Over my time delivering Level 5 apprenticeships I have worked with a wide diverse range of managers across both large and small business. I remember coaching a new manager of a large dental practice in Leeds in 2019 who passed their apprenticeship with distinction and after every session emailed or called me to tell me how they had linked the learning and the outcomes they were seeing from putting it in to practice. I get so much intrinsic reward from what I do, its hard my case load grows and sometimes I want to tell not coach but I do really believe in the process and wish I’d come in to education a lot sooner in life. Apprenticeships are just part of life long learning and when working with motivated learners and their employers there is no better feeling”.

BDM IT Apprenticeships

“I get a buzz from bringing knowledge of the apprenticeship sector to a wide range of employers across the UK. I have developed myself over the time working in apprenticeships building links with the curriculum and operations teams to build solutions – have loved being a part of our move in to bootcamps of late being able to provide more funded learning options to employers but also hearing the stories internally about how learners especially young learners at the beginning of their career love what they are getting out of their learning”.

BDM Apprenticeships

“Having worked in sales and moving into apprenticeships after the pandemic, I just couldn’t believe how receptive my target audience is to working with me to build solutions around recruitment, learning and succession planning. Even in the three years I have been in this sector the landscape seems to have changed with regards to what employers need and also what they expect of us as a partner in training. Competition is everywhere but we stand out by commitment to quality, leaner engagement and being trusted to build relationships over time

Health care skills coach

“ I fell into working in apprenticeships a few years back after being approached by an assessor who was working at the business I was at. I love to be able use my experiences of working in care with my learners and having a wider view of what makes a difference to the people in care by getting top quality training through apprenticeships and my business. I love how varied my role is and that I have the responsibility to manage my diary and leaners to get the best out of me and them. It is a challenge as my caseload fluctuates at lot so being able to have autonomy but great support for our IQA’s my manager and the business keeps me motivated. I am excited about our future plans, exploring virtual reality and new standards”.

Head of Quality

“My role has changed so much and guess what that sort of excites and motivates me. I am lucky that my employer and my MD is from a quality background so I have that peer support when criteria changes. I have been able to develop skills I never though I had such as managing external stakeholders such as awarding bodies, EPAO’s and some employers who have shown more and more interest in the quality of learning in the few years. OFSTED remain a big aspect of my planning working across our quality and curriculum team while also up skilling and auditing our delivery. I love my role and I love the impact it has on peoples lives, seeing our coaching teams make impacts every day with learners and also seeing our business grow because we are OUTSTANDING at what we do…pun intended hahahaha”.

Operations Director

“ I do love what I do, but I am also addicted to it in a way. I am addicted to pushing the professionalism of our sector, of leading our business to not only be good but be OUTSTANDING and although I sound like a megalomaniac now I am hooked into the outcomes apprenticeships have on learners and business. It is tough it seems we are constantly facing objections from OFSTED, employers, government, even in fighting between collages, ITPS and different funding but it is also exciting. Exciting to see what can be done different, what can be achieved and like I said before how it impacts people. Being a bit of a lefty I love to hear stories from across my business about how learners have performed either during their apprenticeship but also afterwards. We have good news stories sent every week by our amazing HR and marketing teams that make me beam with pride and I constantly talk about to anyone who will listen to me about. I never see me not work in the world of FE and funded learning I thinks it is vitally important and will always be a loud mouth annoyance to anybody who says otherwise”.

We want you to share your stories  comment in our social media posts or email info@coynerecruitment.co.uk so we can share this week with and show case how you are providing  SKILLS FOR LIFE!