Investing in local talent with apprenticeships
Words by Nina Scuffil, Apprenticeships Coordinator at London Borough of Camden
It’s National Apprenticeships Week 2022 — a time to highlight the important contribution apprentices make to the workplace in tackling skills gaps and bringing a fresh perspective.
Camden Apprenticeships’ free service offers end-to-end support to local employers who want to offer an apprenticeship position within their organisation. We assist in the development of a job description, sourcing training, advertising and screening candidates to provide you with a shortlist of the strongest local talent. We also provide management and pastoral support as and when needed, once your new recruit has started.
PACE (Play, Adventure and Community Enrichment) is a grass-roots Camden based charity offering a wide range of services to improve the health and happiness of children and their families. The organisation has worked with Camden Apprenticeships for a number of years, recruiting several local people via this service. Most recently, they took on Berhana Araya as an Early Years Apprentice to assist with their busy preschool situated in the diverse community of West Hampstead/Kilburn.
“From the get-go, Berhana has been hardworking, always going the extra mile and demonstrating true commitment. She has shown great initiative in her role as an apprentice, always contributing her ideas and feedback at team meetings,” her manager Amanda Oba says.
Berhana does not need to travel to college to complete her training, as this is delivered online, with tutor meetings carried out via Microsoft Teams.
Amanda explains, “She has structured her week to plan her assignments and work load effectively. She uses our team meetings as a forum to discuss learning topics in a way similar to how she would have had she been attending college. This has meant she has been able to present her ideas and get the feedback and input of other practitioners.”
Amanda is impressed with Berhana’s progress. “She has been integral to the settling in of three cohorts of new children. This has required patience, a nurturing character and understanding of the families’ different dynamics. She is very culturally aware and sensitive, and has used these skills to support children for whom English is as an additional language. As Berhana is a part of the local community, she has a keen interest and understanding of our pre-school families and the issues faced by the families in the area.”
As a result of her hard work in developing relevant skills, Amanda is looking forward to offering Berhana a permanent position with the organisation. The decision to recruit locally really enhanced the quality of service offered to customers.
As well as creating apprenticeships for local employers, Camden Apprenticeships Team encourages council managers to build their skills supply via this route. An extremely high number of apprentices move into employment at the council on completion of their qualification.
Tor joined the Inclusive Economy team at Camden Council in November 2020 and was tasked with supporting projects to ensure local people share in the growth and prosperity of Camden’s economy. She quickly established herself as a driven and hard-working individual who learns quickly and challenges herself.
Tor showed a willingness to gain a diverse range of experience. She successfully project managed the virtual work experience for Camden students and showed bravery and confidence by volunteering to take on responsibilities usually held by individuals a number of grades higher than her — such as chairing and managing monthly communications strategy meetings and developing them into an asset for our team in the process.
“It is difficult to imagine now that when Tor first joined our team, she did not know some of the basic Microsoft Office IT skills. Over the course of a year I witnessed her consistently take on feedback at pace and progress from first shadowing projects, to playing a key support roles within project teams,” her manager Kieran says.
Her experience in this role enabled Tor to move into the permanent position of Inclusive Economy Project Officer, a significant step up in grade level.
Tor says, “Kieran has always supported me to develop my skills, gain valuable experience and work beyond my apprenticeship, including putting me forward to lead projects. This belief in me helped me to become more confident in my potential, expanding my work portfolio and broadening my ideas of what a career could be.”
If you would like to find out more about how you can recruit a local apprentice to your organisation, contact Camden Apprenticeships: apprenticeships@camden.gov.uk or call 02079748778. More details are available via our website www.camden.gov.uk/apprenticeships
