We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Business Skills Internship programme*. This new programme gives valuable work experience to young people in a number of key areas within a business. This also gives employers the opportunity to trial where young talent could add the most value to their business in the form of a future apprenticeship programme.
Throughout 14/15 and 15/16, we are incredibly proud to have supported over 500 young people in their work experience placements, regularly progressing them into lasting careers with their host employers. This recently resulted in Kaplan featuring in a list+ of the top ten providers nationally providing the highest number of starts through traineeships.
Feedback from a recent survey we ran suggests that there is a need for young people to develop strong financial awareness (how a business operates financially), effective communication skills – for example, confident telephone skills and good team work and organisational skills in order to provide return on investment, regardless of the type of business they are working for.
All employers that we spoke to identified lack of confidence, little or no awareness of how business works and little or no relevant work experience as the main issues when interviewing young people for apprenticeship positions.
Internships are a fantastic way to ensure that your future talent pool have developed the experience and skills that are critical for them to succeed and thrive.
In response to this employer feedback, we have developed the new Kaplan Business Skills Internship to allow employers to offer short work placements within different relevant departments, including but not exclusively Accounts, HR, Reception / front of house, Admin Support, Customer Service / Sales, Marketing / Social Media and Management therefore giving them the flexibility and time to properly access how each candidate can benefit their business, in different roles and environments. This employer led internship would be designed with your growth and recruitment strategies at the heart.
Most Internships are unpaid but you are giving a young person valuable work experience and in return you get the opportunity to trial them within your business, identifying potential areas where they could add value. You also get the chance to see if they are a good fit with your company values and culture without committing immediately to a full Apprenticeship programme.
The commitment required from you is to provide a minimum of 100 hours work placement, lasting approximately four weeks. The ultimate goal for the intern would be that they progress into an Apprenticeship role, either with your business or another Apprenticeship employer. Either way the young person has grown their CV and added some work experience, empowering them to progress their career.
To find out more about the new programme, please contact Ruth Runacus, National Careers and Employment Manager, at ruth.runacus@kaplan.co.uk.
*Referred to by the Government as a traineeship this is a programme that "combines work experience that is focused on giving young people the skills and experience that employers are looking for."
+Source – FE Week