Should You Be Hiring an Apprentice?

• Agencies are struggling more than ever to recruit – so should you be looking at hiring an apprentice?
• Georgia Fitzgerald is the associate director of The Juice Academy, which offers social media apprenticeships to adults in the Northwest.
• She’ll be talking us through the benefits of hiring an apprentice, and why they might be exactly what your agency needs.

With agencies struggling to recruit, should you be looking for an apprentice?

Georgia Fitzgerald is the associate director at The Juice Academy, an apprenticeship centre in the Northwest. She says an apprentice could be just what your agency needs.

“You’re bringing someone in who really wants to be in the industry,” she says. “Whichever area they’ve chosen to work in, they’re coming to your business to work from the bottom up and to be guided by you.”

“You’re guiding a person who hasn’t been in a professional capacity in this industry – and apprenticeships are for any age now so they could have lots of different types of experience in other areas. It means they can grow with you as a company.”

So, what are the main benefits of hiring an apprentice?

• They have great ambition. “You’re bringing someone who really wants to be in the industry. There’s a lot of willingness to learn from an apprentice, as they’ve chosen this path. It’s almost like proving to themselves an apprenticeship was the right decision rather than a university degree.”
• They bring greater diversity to a team. “There aren’t too many barriers to apprenticeships, as opposed to the university route, so people anywhere from all different backgrounds, ages and ethnicities can apply.”
• They need support – but they’re quick learners. “Apprentices learn things quickly because they have structured support from the agency or training provider, as well as on-the-job experience. You must ensure you have time to check in with them and have a structured plan in place – but you shouldn’t be there to hold their hand through it all.”

“Apprentices are usually more focused on the actual role at hand,” adds Georgia. 

“For example, our content producer role heavily relates to social media. People are attracted to this because they’ve used to social media and have a passion for it – they just haven’t used it in a business sense yet.”

“It’s about teaching them about your business, bedding them in, and getting them to really understand the product or service you’re selling.”

Are you interested in hiring an apprentice? Perhaps you’ve thought about it but don’t know where to start? 

Join us as we talk to the benefits of offering apprenticeships – and Georgia will be on hand to answer all your burning questions.