Apprenticeships can be a real win-win situation. When you take on an apprentice, they benefit from hands-on, on-the-job experience which can lead to better job prospects and a rewarding career. They can also bring great value to your business or organisation.
Bringing on an apprentice gives you an enthusiastic employee who is eager to learn and develop. They’ll bring a new perspective and new skills to the table, adding valuable diversity to your team. And did you know that, according to the Federation of Self Employed & Small Business (FSB), 78% of employers reported a boost in productivity after introducing an apprenticeship scheme?
The key to bringing on the right apprentice is to create a great job advertisement and share it in the right places. Here are seven of our top tips for advertising your apprenticeship vacancy.
Advertise in the Right Places…
If you want to find great candidates, you need to go where they are. This means understanding where young people and apprenticeship candidates look for jobs.
When they advertise a job vacancy, many employers begin with jobs boards such as Indeed, Monster, and LinkedIn Job Search. These are all great places to advertise and we encourage you to use them. However, if you stop here, you’ll miss out on great candidates who use other platforms.
A few places you might want to advertise include:
- The Youth Employment UK interactive Opportunity Finder.
- The government’s Recruit an Apprentice board
- Social media platforms (targeted advertising can help you to get your ad in front of the right candidates if you have a budget)
- Jobs boards aimed at students and young people
- Local jobs boards for your area (these are often connected to local newspapers, magazines, town or city information sites, or the local council)
…And at the Right Time
If you advertise your apprenticeship too late, you’ll miss out on those highly organised candidates who started looking early and already have a job lined up. You may also feel under pressure to recruit someone quickly, leading you to be less thorough in your hiring process.
Most apprenticeships start in July or August, i.e. after the end of the academic year (as many apprentices are school leavers.) For apprenticeships beginning in the summer, you should start advertising no later than the start of the autumn term the previous year (i.e. early to mid September) and allow students to apply until mid to late January.
Most apprenticeships start in July or August, i.e. after the end of the academic year (as many apprentices are school leavers.) For apprenticeships beginning in the summer, you should start advertising no later than the start of the autumn term the previous year (i.e. early to mid September) and allow students to apply until mid to late January.
Use Straightforward, Reassuring Language
For many of your candidates, this may be the first time they have ever applied for a job. You can make this process easier and more accessible by ensuring that the language you use is clear, straightforward, and reassuring.
Ensure that the job description is clear about exactly what the role entails, what the successful candidate will be doing, and what sort of person you are looking for. This is no place for Corporatese! Get rid of jargon, acronyms, and vague terminology.
This will help young candidates to more easily connect their skills to the role and its responsibilities, allowing them to picture themselves as a good fit despite their lack of previous experience. By helping prospective candidates to feel less anxious and more confident about applying, you immediately increase your candidate pool.
Use Inclusive Language
The words we use matter. Unconscious bias refers to beliefs or attitudes that exist below the level of conscious thought. We all hold unconscious bias and it is vital that we work against it. One way to do that is by scrutinising your job ads very carefully for language that could inadvertently exclude potential candidates.
Along with using plain English and eliminating jargon, here are a few quick pointers to help you:
- Use gender-neutral language (e.g. “The apprentice will…” rather than “He/she will…” If you must use a pronoun, use the second person “you”, which has a direct personal warmth to it, or the singular “they.”)
- Avoid any words that can come across as gendered, even if you do not intend them in that way. Terms such as “guru” or “champion” are often read as masculine, even unconsciously.
- Do not insist on previous experience unless it is truly a requirement (more on necessary and nice-to-have requirements below.)
- State the rate of pay clearly in the ad.
- Format your ad in an accessible way. This means using a clear and easy-to-read font, sticking to a simple black-on-white colour scheme, and avoiding using underlining or italics wherever possible. Consider having alternative format versions, such as large print and audio, available as well.
- Include a statement that emphasises your commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Consider Which Requirements are Truly Essential
It is a common convention, when writing a job ad, to split the attributes you’re looking for into “Essential” and “Nice to Have”. As you put together your ad, think very hard about which of your requirements are truly essential. If you list nice-to-haves as essentials, you may be putting off candidates who could be brilliant additions to your organisations but will now never apply.
This is also an inclusivity and diversity issue. Research shows that men are likely to apply for a job when they meet just 60% of the requirements, while many women will apply only if they meet 100%.
Stress What You Can Do for Them
When recruiting for early career opportunities such as apprenticeships, it’s important to focus on what you can do for them as well as what you would like them to bring to the table for your organisation.
Stress the personal as well as the professional benefits of becoming an apprentice with your company. For example, will the successful candidate enjoy great career development and networking opportunities, a highly competitive pay rate, exciting options for further training, or a generous holiday entitlement? Perhaps you offer subsidised lunches, travel perks, an opportunity to earn bonuses, or even the guarantee of a permanent job upon successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Think about what makes your apprenticeship offer unique and enticing, and then make sure that it is front and centre in your ad.
Discuss Career Progression and Job Security
In a volatile job market, job security is tremendously important. Some apprenticeship programmes guarantee successful apprentices a permanent job upon completion, viewing the training time as an investment in retaining a loyal and highly skilled future employee. If you’re able to offer this, make it clear.
Even if you cannot guarantee a permanent job offer, reassure your candidates about all the work skills, life skills, and confidence they will gain. Remind them that they will keep their apprenticeship qualification forever and be able to use it to launch a successful career in their chosen field.
Here’s to finding the ideal candidate for your apprenticeship!
