Apprentices EDGE ahead

46 young people were given an intensive one-stop shop experience on apprenticeships, in EDGE’s first event in Huntingdon Town Centre. The event promoted live apprenticeship opportunities with local companies, as well as having a range of experts on hand to advise people.

Among the EDGE team were apprenticeship co-ordinators from West Anglia Training Association, Huntingdonshire Regional College and the College of Animal Welfare, who between them have 50 vacancies live on their books, from companies keen to invest in local young people who want to earn while they learn.

Customers also benefitted from a range of other support which EDGE provides, including careers guidance and advice, help to develop and write effective CVs, advice from the Jobcentre on support and funding you can get if you are currently unemployed, and help to look for jobs and work placements.

Julie Drummond, one of the co-ordinators of the EDGE partnership, said:

“It was fantastic to see the shop so busy with people wanting to find out about the opportunities on their doorstep. We hardly stopped all day and the great thing was being to be able to join up the advice and expertise from local partners so people could go away with answers to all of their questions. And if apprenticeships weren’t right for people, the team were able to look at other job vacancies and opportunities and support them to apply.

“EDGE is all about carrying out that brokerage which connects the businesses in the area who are crying out for good people, with those who want to grasp those opportunities and develop their skills and potential.”

The details for over 50 local apprenticeship vacancies were available on the day, and EDGE will continue to promote them and work with providers to get them filled over the next few weeks. All of those seen will have follow-up support from EDGE to get feedback and check on their progress. For those who missed the event there will be another apprenticeship focus on Wednesday 26th August, 11am-3pm, with vacancy information, training providers and advisers on hand ready to help.

Among the apprenticeships on offer were a number of opportunities with local composites companies in Huntingdonshire. EDGE has been working with the cluster to develop appropriate courses for these cutting edge engineering roles which work with strong materials, to make them lightweight, so they can be used efficiently for aircraft, cars, trains, and across industry. None of the companies individually had enough need for local training providers to put on the right courses, but through working together with EDGE partners, WATA have developed courses which can work for a number of companies including Forward, TRB and Cambridge Performance Composites. Now EDGE will find the people to fill those opportunities.

EDGE is a public-private partnership which brings together local training providers, the Jobcentre, local authorities, schools and businesses. It was developed from the Alconbury Enterprise Campus Skills Group to provide a one-stop shop which will support the mutually beneficial development of skills, people and businesses for Alconbury Enterprise Campus and across Huntingdonshire.

For further information call 01480 413141 or email info@sharperskills.co.uk

You can find out more about existing apprenticeship vacancies at http://apprenticeshipvacancymatchingservice.lsc.gov.uk or through https://www.wata.co.uk/apprenticeships-vacancies/

Apprenticeship Facts and Figures

• Apprenticeships are available in more than 170 industries covering over 1,500 job roles.
• There are up to 27,000 vacancies available across England on the apprenticeship.gov.uk website right now.
• Apprenticeships are open to anyone over 16 in England, and are designed at various levels depending on your current skills and qualifications.
• As they are real jobs, apprentices earn a salary, while they are learning and must work at least 30 hours a week.
• Most of the training is delivered in the workplace, and the rest is given by a training organisation, either at the workplace, off-site (perhaps at college) or via e-learning.
• The training is specifically tailored to ensure you develop the skills the employer wants, giving apprentices a real advantage in the workplace. This means that apprentices not only have better long term salary prospects, but they also have excellent progression opportunities.
• On completion, 90% of apprentices stay in employment with 71% staying with the same employer.

Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching ServiceWATA apprenticeship vacancies