Are you missing a good old trick? 

We are often asked by employers to explain the benefits of taking on an Apprentice. Within this short blog I'll try and offer a flavour of how they work, who benefits and how, and who is an ideal candidate:

There are currently 958,000 unemployed people aged 16 - 24 years old in the UK - so many in fact that the Government has come up with a tidy little acronym (as they often do when a problem is too big to say in real words) called NEET's. This stands for Young people not in Education, Employment, or Training - there I've said it.

Some of these young people don't want any help. They don't want to engage at all and they are unhappy with the endless burdens of youth, good health and excellent prospects. Poor them. No really. They will wake up one morning aged 35 - still living with mum, and realise that life has passed them by - it's the same within every generation there has ever been and there ever will be.

There are however a huge amount of promising, bright, talented young people out there who are itching for an opportunity to work in a particular sector or industry - these are the diamonds that we try and extract.

These bright young things (and importantly their parents) are faced with a massive dilemma. University fees have sprung up with little warning to the tune of £9,000 per year and have you seen the price of fuel, food, and all of the other things you don't get paid for whilst on a college course???

What does an Apprentice cost?

Our FREE recruitment, training and exit process is described in points below - nothing we do costs you a penny. The Apprentice on the other hand will:

·     Work full time 40 hours per week

·     Take a training allowance of £2.60 per hour

·     stay with you for 6 - 8 months (depending on the length of their programme)

·     Either stay with you at the end or take their new experience and skills into the jobs market 100% better off for having ben given the opportunity to work for you.

If its good enough for Rolls Royce:

We meet business owners every day and it's amazing how often these self motivated, sophisticated and highly skilled inividuals (you know who you are) didn't learn their skills at college or University - myself included.

Many entrepreneurs started out by taking the small jobs, learning fast and embracing all of the skills, experiences and opportunities that came their way. For me it was washing dishes and making novelty desserts in a local restaurant whilst I resat my GCSE's.

In other words it was down to an opportunity that we were given at a young age that had us walk or fall into our future lives be that a strategic decision or a happy accident. We just had an enormous amount of energy and drive to see it through as the years went on.

We are all aware of some HUGE companies who embrace Apprenticeships as a major source of finding young talent. I've mentioned Rolls Royce to grab your attention. I attach the following link so that you can see both the amazing work and the amazing results that they are getting from Apprenticeships: http://www.rolls-royce.com/careers/what_can_do/graduates/apprenticeships/index.jsp

What do you get:

If you have ever worked with a recruitment agency (and had a really positive experience) then you are on the right track regarding the process of taking an Apprentice. The only difference is that we WON'T sting you for payment at the end. The recruitment service is entirely FREE.

FREE SERVICE:

1. A face to face meeting to discuss your needs and requirements

2. A comprehensive job specification and personality match

3. Your post advertised on all of the major Apprenticeship jobs boards + circulation to all career services

4. Full, comprehensive Candidate vetting - including candidate interviews (by us)

5. Top 3 - 5 CV's per post sent to your inbox

6. Interviews to suit you and your diary

7. Enrolment onto an Apprenticeship

8. Full Apprenticeship delivery, certification and FREE workshops for your staff (menu on request)100% on your premises

9. Employer support at the end of the programme to employ or exit the learner from your business

10. Full service review at the end of the programme

The training:

In short you can take an apprentice full time for 6 - 8 months for just £2.60 per hour and they will contribute to your business like any new member of staff.

The Apprenticeship training that is on offer is work based, delivered 100% on your premises - no day release, night school, evenings or weekends.

The training is tailored to suit your businesses needs at that time. They are evidence based - not academic but based on the work you set them.

Your Apprentice will need approximately an hour and a half per week to contribute to their qualification plus two to three hours with their assessor per month (one visit a month) to set work, sit exams and translate their work experiences and skills into nationally recognised qualifications worth between 5 GCSE's and 2 A' levels.

Are they for you?

Perhaps your business is hoping to recruit young talent but the cost is putting you off, or you know someone who you would really like to see in an Apprenticeship role. If so we are working with Candidates and employers all the time and we would be delighted to work with you.

Call direct on 077654 08 523 today or visit: http://www.wmctraining.co.uk/contact-us-2/ and register your details and request a call back for a no obligation chat.

Many thanks for reading this blog - I hope that you have found it useful, informative and a call to action for your business. We are delighted to take all enquiries so please get in touch and we'll hope to introduce you to some pretty smart young cookies FREE of charge.

Kindest regards,

Paul Rees

Managing Director

WMC Training

077654 08 523

63 Harbour Street - nearly one year old and going strong!

Since 63 Harbour Street’s juicer first whirled into life last April, much has happened.  We've blended over 4,000 smoothies, used bushels of fruit and vegetables (all locally grown or locally sourced) and forged some great relationships with Kent producers.

Our suppliers include Whitstable's greengrocers Hedges, baker My Goodness and Olivesrgood4u.  Further afield we work with The Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Company, Little Stour Orchard, which answered our appeal for “single-estate” apples at harvest-time, Jemima's Kitchen and The Kentish Chocolate Company.  Like us, many of these businesses are in their first year.  We're finding our way together and sharing knowledge and skills where we can.

Another discovery has been social networking:  We like creating "limited-edition" juices and smoothies and we buy our products in small, fresh batches.  Twitter and facebook are great for letting people know what's new and we've found producers through them too.  It's a quick, personal approach that seems to work well for a "micro-business".

Some other things we've found:

- Lots of dogs love apples. "A smoothie for me and an apple for him please"  Well, it was news to us...

- Whitstable attracts a truly international crowd. We've had customers from all over the world - literally - in our first ten months. They appreciate really fresh products.  And visitors from coffee-growing countries have a notably professional interest in coffee - the blend, the grind, the Gaggia...

- We have Whitstable regulars too, which is great.  We hoped we would appeal to the resident community as well as to visitors and that seems to be the case.  Loyalty cards are booming...