At Ceteris, we’re committed to helping young people in our local area be ready to enter the world of work. Following on from the success of a recent month-long Career Ready work placement with local High School pupil, James Smith, we are taking on our first Foundation Apprentice this Autumn.
Pupils on a Foundation Apprenticeship attend work placement one day a week, working towards a vocational qualification. A local school pupil will join us to undertake a two-year Business Skills and Accountancy Foundation Apprenticeship. Angela Ogilvie and Alison Davidson of Ceteris will attend a Foundation Apprentice Day at Forth Valley College on September 6, where they (and other employers) will meet their carefully chosen Foundation Apprentice.
Foundation Apprenticeship programmes from Forth Valley College are typically delivered over two years to school pupils throughout S5 and S6, although there are an increasing amount of shorter one year models becoming available.
The pupils who have taken part so far have shown a great commitment to study in their chosen sector and, thanks to the involvement of their workplace mentors, most move forward to a Modern Apprenticeship or full-time study at College or University.
The benefits to local businesses of supporting a Foundation Apprentice include:
- Reducing recruitment costs by accessing a brand-new talent pipeline of skills for your business and raising the profile of your business to emerging talent
- Retaining skills by enabling succession planning for an ageing workforce
- Supporting staff opportunities and Continuous Professional Development
- Gaining new skills and fresh thinking by accessing a new generation of fresh talent
- Fast-tracking your talent development. Young people get to know your business so if you chose to recruit, they can come in with a useful working knowledge and complete their Modern Apprenticeship faster
- Providing the first step for a young person towards a career in your industry
The Senior Management Team at Ceteris said, “We are thrilled to be working with Forth Valley College to support their Foundation Apprenticeship scheme. This placement joins our current Modern Apprentice, our support of Developing the Young Workforce and our involvement in the Career Ready mentoring programme in showing our commitment to the workforce of tomorrow.”
“We look forward to following the development of our Foundation Apprenticeship during their time with Ceteris, as they assist our team in the day-to-day running of our successful business centres. We would also be happy to speak to any local business about the benefits of taking on a Foundation Apprentice.”
The Foundation Apprenticeships has proven to be a success for pupils and businesses alike with current figures showing 425 new starts in August 2019 compared to 175 in 2018.
These are spread across 10 frameworks developed by Skills Development Scotland where there are projected to be skills shortages in the future. These frameworks are:
- Accountancy
- Business Skills
- Creative and Digital Media
- Civil Engineering
- Engineering
- IT: Hardware
- IT: Software
- Scientific Technologies
- Social Services: Children and Young People
- Social Services: Healthcare
If your business would like to find out more about supporting a Foundation Apprenticeship at Forth Valley College, please email Iasha Craig, Foundation Apprenticeship Work Placement Coordinator, on iasha.craig@forthvalley.co.uk.