In 2015 as part of National Apprenticeship Week, Solihull College & University Centre launched a challenge of securing 100 apprenticeships in just 100 days. The College managed to achieve this 10 days prior to their deadline. This year, the College launched the campaign again in the hope of beating the previous year’s achievements and securing the apprenticeships well within the 100 day target.
The first task the College faced was getting local businesses on board to offer apprenticeships to young people within the Midlands region. A whole range of industries including beauty, business admin, civil engineering, construction, hairdressing, health & social care, hospitality, IT, retail, sports and many more saw the benefits of offering apprenticeships and in just 27 working days the College had 100 vacancies from a number of different employers. As well as this Solihull College & University Centre had already began filling the vacancies giving a number of young people in the region a chance to gain qualifications and industry experience to give them a head start in their career and also earn a wage whilst doing so.
Apprenticeships enable students to learn the skills and gain the recognised qualifications needed to progress within their chosen profession as well as gaining industry experience which allows them to stand out amongst other candidates when applying for jobs. Career prospects are endless for those who complete an apprenticeship scheme as they can go on to higher education or progress up to the next level in employment.
With apprenticeships proving ever popular with a number of young people, the College managed to recruit 100 apprentices into the variety of different roles in just 72 days, leaving 28 days to spare and beating 2015’s result by 18 days.
Director of Employment and Skills at Solihull College & University Centre Shaun Hindle commented: “We are extremely pleased with the result of securing 100 apprenticeships well within our 100 day target. It is great to see so many local employers on board with apprenticeships and fully understanding the benefit to not only the apprentice but to them as a business. We are looking forward to developing business relationships with the companies who have already signed up and expanding to include more businesses within our apprenticeship offer.”
The 100th apprentice was Richard Harvey who will be completing a Health and Social Care Level 3 apprenticeship whilst working at Pharus Care Ltd.
If you would like more information on the apprenticeship programmes and vacancies at Solihull College & University Centre visit the apprenticeships page or call 0121 678 7000.
If you are an employer looking to hire an apprentice visit our employer website or call 0121 678 7181.
