How to hire young people

Transcription

1 How to hire young people

2 CONTENTS PAGE Hiring young people: An introduction Talent: what to look for Apprenticeships: what you need to know Apprenticeship courses The apprenticeship levy Lifetime Training courses Apprenticeship funding What you pay

3 Hiring Young People School and college leavers flooding the recruitment market right now present businesses with an excellent opportunity to recruit new talent. But why recruit young people? Younger employees tend to be more motivated, engaged and more loyal. They inject a fresh perspective and embrace new ways of working. They live and breathe the digital age. They have the enthusiasm to do a good job and will be keen to learn. Young people are also a great way to support growth and talent development plans. Have you thought about role succession in your business? What happens if your most trusted, valued employee leaves out of the blue? What can you do to ease that potential risk? Taking that further, employing young people can help to support business plans. For example, proving your business is a socially responsible one, through a commitment to local communities, giving back and leading the way in developing the skilled workforce of the future, can have an extremely powerful impact. It is likely that businesses with a youth recruitment strategy are already finding ways of reaching out to school leavers. However, if you don t have one in place, there is no reason why your organisation shouldn t benefit from employing young team members too. 3

4 Talent: what to look for Polite Engaging Bright Good initiative Presentable Desire to succeed Good communicator You can t expect a young person, and by that we mean 16 to 18-year-olds, to join your business with industry experience or all the skills your business needs. Nor can you expect them to have a full understanding of what it s like to work at your business, know the processes and procedures or even have a handle on observing office etiquette. They will need your support and guidance, particularly in the early stages. This means you can t rely on your trusted recruitment practices when employing young people. The focus should be more on soft skills. You need to look at the candidate in the round look at their CV, speak to them on the phone, meet them in person, try them out. Generally, you re probably looking for someone who is polite, engaging, and good at communicating and someone who shows a degree of initiative. Do they ultimately have a desire to succeed? And why do they think an apprenticeship is the right career route for them as opposed to getting a job outright? 4

5 For customer service roles, ask if they have phone experience or how they might go about handling different customers or situations. If they are interviewing for a role in the kitchen ask them if they have a favourite dish they cook at home. The first six weeks is critical. Have a presence. Give your apprentice an induction in the first week and meet regularly. Set expectations and cover things off like clothing, make-up, office etiquette, punctuality and goals. And, its always advisable to assign a mentor, a good role model who wants supervisory experience and can help them through the early stages. Be consistent and repetitive as the effort is worth it. After six weeks, we see a dramatic performance improvement. George Dee, Apprentice Recruitment Manager at Lifetime Training Once shortlisting has taken place interviews can be used to understand more about the skills and experience of the candidate, their career aspirations and to ascertain if they re a good fit for your team. Depending on the job you might also be able to ask more targeted questions. For example, if they are interviewing for a role in the kitchen you might ask them if they have a favourite dish they like to cook at home or if they have examples of working in a fastpaced, pressurised environment or how they might go about managing it. For customer service roles, you might focus on whether they have phone work experience or how they might go about handling different customers or situations. TOP TIPS George Dee, Lifetime s Apprentice Recruitment Manager gives his top tips Break the ice: Ask them how they travelled in, where from, and what they ve been doing lately? Something you might look for: Are they presentable? One question you might ask: What do you know about the business? Find out about them: Do they have any interests or hobbies? 5

6 Apprentice Apprenticeships: what you need to know If you re interested in recruiting young people into your business and offering them an opportunity to grow their career but aren t sure where to start with supporting them, it might be time to consider apprenticeships. Apprenticeship programmes offer businesses a pre-prepared structure for teaching and learning, supporting employees to develop an array of the role-relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours that they need to grow successfully in their careers. Of course, line managers and colleagues will need to input and provide feedback day-to-day but an apprenticeship, and the assigned trainer, will guide everyone through a young person s development, the milestones they need to reach or any changes of behaviour they need to implement, in order for them to succeed in their role, company and wider industry sector. Line Manager Trainer 6

7 Making apprenticeships work So how does a business make apprenticeships work for them? There are a few things managers and owners can do as part of the planning process to ensure the business, as well as the new recruit, gets value for money from the apprenticeship programme. 1. Start with a plan: Detail your job vacancy and why you think an apprentice could fill the post (Review the government s apprenticeship standards to work out which apprenticeship would best suit the role or speak to an apprenticeship training provider like Lifetime Training). Outline your, the business s, and the team s expectations of the apprentice. Detail the benefits of the training to the apprentice. What results do you anticipate for the business and apprentice? 2. Recruit your apprentice: Create an engaging job advert, shortlist criteria and plan the interview. Post your vacancy on your social media channels, website, and online using specialist job sites. Lifetime offers a free apprentice recruitment service for employers. Call to take advantage of the offer. After shortlisting, tweak the interview plan and questions based on the candidate s CV, skills and experience. 3. Apprentice pack: Why not supply your apprentice with an information pack before they start provide them with information about their team mates, their daily duties, the wider business and/or industry, their work setting, key policies and procedures, dress code, some simple do s and don ts, basically anything that will help answer any basic questions upfront and give them the confidence to get started. Why not throw in a discount voucher for a high-street store to help them with their workwear or a local coffee shop voucher card. You could even set them a top secret project; giving them an opportunity to review the wider business and make some suggestions on improvements. 4. Get started: You will need to sign up with an approved apprenticeship training provider listed on the Register of Approved Training Providers, like Lifetime. Training providers will be able to support you with all the necessary compliance and quality procedures and protocols, advise on which apprenticeship/apprenticeships are right for your business or candidate and will supply the work-based training elements of the apprenticeship. Some, like Lifetime, may also be able to offer additional training and assessment activities. Call Lifetime Apprentice Recruitment on to discuss your needs. 5. Evidence the training: The new apprenticeship standards demand that training is properly evidenced through Employer Skills Endorsements (ESE). For further information, call Lifetime on or request a call back. 6. Regular catch ups: Hold regular catch up sessions with your apprentice to ensure they know their objectives, what they can work on, what they are doing well and any specific feedback from colleagues or customers. Equally, you could use this as a session to build them up and celebrate their success or to conduct some offthe-job training. 7. Mentoring: It s worthwhile pairing an apprentice up with a colleague, someone they can go to with any dayto-day questions or concerns and someone who can support you to carry out the apprentice s training and help you make the final decision about whether they are ready to enter the end-point assessment gateway and complete their final assessments. This gives the mentor a development opportunity, while supporting the apprentice throughout their learning journey. 8. Training: Ensure your apprentice is given the down time they need to learn and study. Respect these extra demands on their time and support them by showing interest in their progress and through gentle encouragement to complete outstanding tasks. Ensure you work with their apprenticeship trainer to allow the apprentice time for training sessions and assessment. 9. Celebrate: Don t forget to celebrate the apprentice s achievements throughout their apprenticeship as well as at the end. It might be with a thank you card, doughnuts for the team, or party poppers, banners and cakes when they complete. Don t forget to take plenty of photos of your apprentice and share them online through your website, social media (including the national apprenticeship service channels) and potentially even with your local newspaper if you re particularly impressed with their achievements. 7

8 Lifetime Train ACTIVE LEISURE Advanced Apprenticeship in Personal Training Level 3 (Framework) BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship Level 2 (Standard) CARE Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship Level 2 (Standard) Lead Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Higher Apprenticeship in Leadership for Health & Social Care and Children & Young People s Services Level 5 (Framework) EARLY YEARS Higher Apprenticeship in Leadership for the Children & Young People s Workforce Early Years Advanced Practice Level 5 (Framework) Higher Apprenticeship in Leadership for the Children & Young People s Workforce Early Years Management Level 5 (Framework) HEALTH Healthcare Support Worker Apprenticeship Level 2 (Standard) Senior Healthcare Support Worker Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Healthcare Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship Level 5 (Standard) MORE INFORMATION For full details visit: apprenticeships.org.uk 8

9 ing courses HOSPITALITY Commis Chef Apprenticeship Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Barista Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Alcoholic Beverage Service Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Concierge and Guest Services Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Conference and Events Operations Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Food and Beverage Service Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Food Preparation Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Housekeeping Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Licensed Retail Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Reception Level 2 (Standard) Hospitality Team Member Reservations Level 2 (Standard) Advanced Apprenticeship in Professional Cookery Level 3 (Framework) Senior Chef Production Cooking Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Hospitality Supervisor Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) MANAGEMENT Team Leader/Supervisor Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Team Leader/Supervisor (with ILM Diploma) Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Higher Apprenticeship in Management Level 4 (Framework) Operations/Department Manager Apprenticeship Level 5 (Standard) RETAIL Retailer Apprenticeship Level 2 (Standard) Retail Team Leader Apprenticeship Level 3 (Standard) Retail Manager Apprenticeship Level 4 (Standard) 9

10 Apprenticeship Funding Employers with <49 employees Employers with >50 employees Salary bill of < 3M Salary bill of < 3M Fully-funded training for 16 to 18-year-olds Contribute 10% of total training costs Existing staff or recruited apprentice over age 18 10

11 What you pay We know what you re thinking. How much is this going to cost? Employers are obliged to pay 10% of the total apprenticeship training fee (unless the apprentice is aged and you employ less than 50 people, for which the fee is zero). However, employers may be entitled to government incentive payments or national insurance savings that could deliver a financial upside. To help you, we ve provided two examples so you can get a feel for costs and how these are worked out. Based on a 16 to 18-year-old apprentice taking a Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship with a total fee of 3000: YOU PAY : 300 INCENTIVE PAYMENT*: 1000 NET BENEFIT: 700 Can be paid in monthly instalments by Direct Debit. *Government incentive to support the cost of employing a young apprentice. Incentive payment becomes eligible for payment in month three and month 12. Based on a 21 to 24-year-old apprentice taking a Team Leader/Supervisor Apprenticeship with a total training cost of 5000 and an apprentice salary of 18,000: YOU PAY*: 500 NI SAVINGS: 1365 annually NET BENEFIT: 865 *10% of the total training cost can be paid monthly by Direct Debit. 11

12 REQUEST A CALL BACK FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL Clifton Heights Triangle West Bristol BS8 1EJ info@lifetime.co.uk lifetimetraining.co.uk Lifetime Training Group Ltd. Registered in England No: VAT number: