Back in January 2018 one of our administrators handed in his notice looking for a career change. We had a gap to fill and how best to do it??
We could recruit an experienced administrator but would have significant recruitment costs and training to carry out for the recruit to learn ‘our’ systems and processes.
As a Company, we decided to look at the apprenticeship route, something we had not tried before.
We approached Starting Off, a local agency specializing in apprenticeships for young people in the area.
Starting Off shortlisted candidates to our specification, minimum qualification requirements and computer, literacy and numeracy skills. They put the candidates through various numerical, grammar and accuracy tests. We were presented with a summary of each candidate along with their Starting Off test results. This gave us a good background on the candidates and from this, we could shortlist for interview.
We interviewed the candidates, around half a dozen. Not only did this give us plenty of choice, but also gave the candidate’s interview experience. Two members of staff interviewed each candidate and we used a scoring matrix to help us chose the best person for the role.
When interviewing we considered –
We chose Megan, a bubbly character who was looking for a career in administration. Megan joined us in February 2018.
Megan joined the Mortgage and Protection Administration Team. She was mentored by Tina who showed her the ropes and began the task of training a complete novice. Megan picked up things quickly and had great IT skills, she taught some of us a lesson!
After discussion with the Starting Off Mentor, Megan decided to undertake a Level 3 NVQ in Business Administration. She attended Starting Off training room every Tuesday morning along with completing both on and off the job training here at Anstee & Co. We had to commit to allowing Megan 20% of her working time for training and development.
The training assignments helped Megan to develop her general business skills and to learn more about Anstee & Co. It was tough sometimes with lots of training and learning to do and the day job as well! In September 2019 Megan completed the training and achieved her qualification.
During the last 18 months, we have seen Megan grow and develop and she is a very valuable member of the team. Upon completion of her training, Megan has been taken on as a full time, permanent employee.
In September 2018 we took on a second apprentice based on the experience we had with Starting Off and Megan. Our second apprentice Andie is also undertaking a Level 3 NVQ in Business Administration.
I can thoroughly recommend Apprenticeships as a way forward, it has certainly benefitted Anstee & Co. We have gained two fantastic members of staff for our team.
You can read Megan’s story which will be published on 26th September 2019.
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