For Simply Commerce, the commitment to offering apprenticeships during a pandemic was very much driven by its focus on giving back to the community. The business has previously hired an apprentice back in 2018 that resulted in a permanent placement being made, but once the pandemic struck and local unemployment levels rose, the firm looked at how it could support those out of work. As Holly Langley, Business Operations Manager at Simply Commerce, explained
“We’re a community-orientated business and we wanted to give back where we could in these tough times. We looked at a number of ways we could offer support to those out of work or struggling to find employment – including the KickStart Scheme – but we settled on an apprenticeship programme as we knew from past experience that it could work well for us.”
“While the first apprenticeship we ran several years ago worked out in the end, it was a learning curve for us, so having access to the APSCo /Recruitment Juice apprenticeship training and their help in guiding us this time around was certainly useful. We’ve all been highly impressed with the support – it’s been tough to deliver in the current economy, but the team were really quick to get things moving for us. In fact, I gave Recruitment Juice very short notice that we were bringing two apprentices on-board, but they turned it around without a problem!”
Although Simply Commerce had experience with apprenticeships in the past, running one during a pandemic certainly came with its challenges. However, one issue that they didn’t expect was the initial problem of finding the right apprentices in the first place:
“We reached out to local colleges but because it wasn’t what they class as a ‘skills based’ apprenticeship such as hairdressing or electrical engineering, there wasn’t the interest which is a real shame as we know that recruitment is a fantastic career. So, we found the two apprentices ourselves elsewhere, then turned to APSCo and Recruitment Juice to run the programme.”
Without the feasibility of delivering in-person and face-to-face training, the Simply Commerce apprenticeship programme had to be appropriate for a purely virtual environment. As Holly outlined, this came with a number of pros and cons:
“Not being able to physically monitor someone’s training and see for yourself what they’re doing is tough, so there is an element of trust that you have to give your trainees. However, with the learning portal online, it meant that our apprentices could access modules from anywhere at any time. This was particularly useful for those who were put on temporary furlough, as it meant they could continue with their studies remotely with little impact.”
According to Holly, the training programme that has been provided has been second-to-none for the business and its apprentices:
“One element that really stands out to me is just how comprehensive the training has been for our apprentices. They’ve had access to information that we wouldn’t have covered with new hires in their first few weeks, and that knowledge will only benefit us as a business in the future.”
“I was also very struck by how easy the whole process was. We’re not levy payers, but APSCo talked us through the whole process to gain access to funding.”
While the apprenticeship scheme allows the business to give back to the community, the training is also critical to developing the skills of the sector’s talent. In fact, according to Holly, apprenticeships and skills development is critical to the recruitment profession as the nature of the work requires consultants to do so much more than put ‘bums-on-seats’:
“As recruiters, we have people’s careers in our hands and it’s important that all of our staff – whether highly experienced or more junior team members – follow the right policies and protocols, so training really is a must. It’s also important to us that our staff adhere to industry standards, such as the APSCo code of conduct, so providing them with the right training from the get-go will set them on the right path within the business.”
The first two cohorts of the Simply Commerce apprenticeship programme are well on their way to finishing their training, but the business won’t be stopping there. It is already making plans to bring two further apprentices on board in March. And as part of its on-going commitment to help out the community in these difficult times, the firm has also been running Project 500 – a scheme to send 500 laptops to schools around the country to help support the home-schooling initiative.
Romano Romancio, one of the apprentices, commented: “I have had a good experience with the apprenticeship scheme as it has taught me the ins and outs of recruitment and why it is so important, also teaching me the fundamentals of the recruitment industry and the recipe you need to be successful in it! Simply Commerce have been a huge part of my early recruitment career as they have built a solid foundation of support where I feel comfortable to ask any questions I may have and the team here are great fun and all have great personalities!”
Charlie Kurth who has also been on the programme, added: “Having not been in any education since 2017 I was initially anxious about doing an apprenticeship, however now I'm five months in and rolling full steam ahead it feels great to be working towards a Level 3 qualification in Recruitment. The support I have received from Recruitment Juice and Simply Commerce has been second to none.”
APSCo Apprenticeship training is available for all members to train existing and new staff in partnership with Recruitment Juice. This training is funded through the apprenticeship programme and includes one day’s classroom training with APSCo. So whether you are a levy payer or non levy payer you can access any of these courses.
Funded training is offered at three different levels:
Find out more about the Recruitment Juice Development Programme here or contact the talent development team on TalentDevelopment@apsco.org or call 020 3117 0910.
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