Hiring Tech Apprentices in UL – Overcoming the barriers

This report comprises the outcomes in the first in a series of research activities that the Tech Partnership will be running during 2016 which explores employers’ perceptions about digital/ tech/ IT apprenticeships.

This research was designed to elicit employer responses to why they have or have not yet taken digital apprentices in their organisations. Those employers who have taken apprentices (51% of respondents) share details about how their organisations have benefited. Those employers who have not yet taken apprentices share information around perceived barriers to doing so.

The key research findings are being used by the Tech Partnership to determine how to assist employers in understanding how apprenticeships can benefit their businesses. The most significant insights from this research are:

Employers value apprenticeships because they help them find new talent and fill vital skills gaps in their organisations

Employers cite the ability to fill vital skills gaps in their business as the key value of running their apprenticeship programmes.

Many employers don’t take on apprentices because they don’t know how to find the right candidates or to source high quality training

Employers indicate that the biggest barriers in making apprenticeship programmes work are around

• How to find/ recruit decent candidates.
• How to source high quality training.

Many say that they are put off because they simply do not know where to start.

It is clear that lack of basic knowledge is a key barrier for many employers who simply do not know what options are available to them in running an apprenticeship programme.

Employers value accredited training programmes as an assurance of quality

In selecting training programmes and partners, only 23% of employers were very confident they know where to go. Over 60% recognise the value of any externally validated mark of quality for apprentice training, such as Tech Partnership accreditation.

Employers expect to take on more apprentices when the levy comes into force

62% of those employers aware of the levy said they expect to take on more apprentices – either in the form of hiring young recruits or retraining existing staff – as a result of the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Overcoming the barriers to hiring tech apprentices: digital apprenticeship survey results