16 July 2021

Recruiting an Apprentice – hints and tips

With an increase in apprenticeship vacancies across the sector we have been talking to Kathryn Hawkins of Berkshire Labels to give us an insight into their successful strategies for recruiting young people onto an apprenticeship programme.

• Advertising is important. In addition to advertising on “Indeed” and other jobs boards as well as with the BPIF, generate an advert yourself which will encourage twice as many views. 
• Share your adverts on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Including looking for local Facebook Groups and Business Groups. 
• Get your other apprentices involved as a case study, to share their experience. They may know peers also looking for an apprenticeship which they can share job applications with.
• Use hashtags to increase the reach such as #apprenticeships #jobs #youngcareers 
• Shout about what you are proud of and why apprentices would want to work at your organisation. For example, being local and engaging with the community, showcasing progression opportunities and paying over the national apprenticeship wage. 
• Encourage other staff at your organisation to share the stories on their personal social media platforms. Consider offering a referral scheme to staff if they manage to support the recruitment process, which will incentives them to shout about the opportunities.
• If you have already recruited, but still have other vacancies available, share this on social. Express how popular the recruitment process was and make others feel like they want to apply before it is too late. 
• Respond to interest as soon as possible whilst engagement is still hot. 
• Consider what the interview process will look like. For example, a telephone interview, face to face and a shadow half day.  This gives the learner and staff member time to really understand the workplace environment and the depth of the work involved.  This also gives the learner a more welcome feel as they have already made relationships. 
• Remember that someone applying for an apprenticeship is generally at the start of their career and will require skills development.

BPIF Training are here to support you with your recruitment. If you need any further support, or guidance on recruiting your next apprentice, get in contact with Arun Madar, [email protected], who will be able to help.