Made at HRC Case Studies

Sevgi works as Lead Marketing Officer within the Marketing Department at Hertford Regional College and manages her own Apprentice within the team.

Initially the marketing team were looking to recruit an Apprentice to support with company structure. However, Sevgi was surprised at how “having an Apprentice in the workplace helped to bring a new perspective and also innovation into the team.” Hiring an Apprentice can be both a rewarding and fulfilling to have within a team and “it’s great to watch someone develop in such a short time and help to bring out the best in them.”

Adding value

“Taking on an apprentice has been great for the team's structure; we were able to offer our apprentice a permanent role as they have shown fantastic work ethic during their time with us.
It feels amazing to see someone progress and be a part of their journey in getting there. An Apprentice can really help to bring fresh ideas to the table and I can honestly say having an Apprentices contribution is invaluable.”

Recruitment

“I have had the pleasure to work with the Apprenticeship team at HRC on many occasions; they were extremely supportive during the interview process and are committed to ensuring they find the right candidate to suit the right role.”

Would you recommend Apprentices to other businesses?

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“I would recommend anyone considering hiring an Apprentice to go for it, it’s such a rewarding process and a great addition to have to any team!”

Apprentice employer Pope & Meads Ltd employs several apprentices and is based in Hertford.

The company manufactures components and assemblies for clients including aerospace, defense and commercial to a very high specification.

Of the company's experience in employing an apprentice, Managing Director Nick Ellis says it was a "very good and very positive experience. The college understood what our needs were" so that Pope & Meads could recruit the right candidates. The company regularly employs multiple apprentices and Nick highlights that "we want to continue that year in year out".

Nick says the company finds it beneficial to employ apprentices as they tend to be young, and younger people "thrive on change" - a key skill for the ever-changing engineering industry. Additionally, "they have been brought up with the latest technology so they aren't afraid of computers" which is critical for a company working heavily with CAD and CAM systems.

Nick's advice to other engineering employers thinking about taking on an apprentice is that "it is their responsibility to ensure that we have young people coming through, taking on the mantle of manufacturing high quality products".

When looking to recruit an apprentice, Nick says "we look for, first and foremost, enthusiasm. They must also have the capacity and will to learn. The rest we'll teach them".

Nick Malady-Rashford is currently an apprentice at Pope & Meads. You can read his story here.

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Apprentice employer Replas Machinery Ltd is a family-run injection moulding company based in Hertford.

Founded in 1981, Replas is managed by Richard Cannell as it's director, with his father (the founding member), mother and brother working alongside him.

Richard recognises that Replas is a small business and was unsure whether an apprentice would fit into the company. "Until about a year ago I hadn't really considered taking on an apprentice", Richard says, "but meeting with a couple of people from HRC put all that to rest. It's been an easier road than I imagined and I'm pleased we've done it".

After a long-serving member of the team retired, Richard had to make a decision on how best to fill the skill gap that now existed. He knew that it was important he find someone who could adapt to Replas' methods of working and hit the ground running.

It was for this reason that Richard decided to take on an apprentice; someone he could be confident would fully appreciate the intricacies of Replas. Scott joined Replas as part of his Advanced Engineering Apprenticeship in 2015 and will complete in 2018.

Richard recognised that the key benefits of bringing Scott into the company as an apprentice were "having fresh thoughts and seeing things from a different angle. Any input is helpful to help adapt and grow our business".

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Apprentice employer Smart AV is an audio and visual hire specialist founded in 2005 with over 40 full-time employees.

Based in Harlow, Smart AV works with high end clients from a variety of sectors to provide display solutions for anything from retail exhibitions to fashion shows.

Jane Piggott, Head of HR at the company says the experience of hiring apprentices through HRC is "a really positive one. Their employment service is extremely professional and has ensured the recruitment process is seamless".

Annie joined Smart AV as a Business & Administration apprentice in 2015 and within six weeks had settled in well to the company. Jane highlights that "she is extremely enthuasiastic and has quickly become a valuable member of our team. She has shown great enthuasism not only for her role but for her learning and development".

For Smart AV, Jane says employing an apprentice means that "they come in ready to learn, ready to engage and start on a good footing for a successful career with us".

Of working with HRC, Jane is pleased to say that she sees "our relationship with the college progressing from strength to strength in the future. They work alongside us to ensure the apprentice is a correct fit for the company". In addition to this, HRC ensures the apprenticeship units "are tailored to our business needs which benefits not only the apprentice but our company".

Jane would certainly recommend hiring an apprentice to any employer: "in our experience you gain an extremely dedicated employee. Someone with a thirst to learn and a desire to achieve".

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Antony Booth works at a legal practice named Sarah Waddington Solicitors in Ware as a non-levy employer recruiting 4 Apprentices.

Sarah Waddington Solicitors has over 20 years’ experience in many aspects of law. They pride themselves on providing a professional, efficient and friendly service to anyone who instructs their firm.

Antony thinks, “finding the right candidate from the CV’s is like finding a diamond…”

Why have you chosen to recruit apprentices?

Hiring an Apprentice within an organisation has many beneficial factors for the company. Antony said one the main reasons he initially recruited apprentices was to “support company structure.” Apprentices can often bring a fresh and positive approach to a company which “you get to nurture new talent for.”

Would you recommend hiring an apprentice to other employers?

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Where to start?

Our Business Development Manager (Jas) works at Hertford Regional College as our employer link. If considering recruiting an apprentice, this is a great place to start! Our Apprenticeship team works hard to find the best candidate suited to the role and the best fit for the team.

To find out more about recruiting your own Apprentice, contact us at:
Tel: 01992411821 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Kemlows are a well-established UK based company offering both Aluminium and Zinc high-pressure diecasting services. Founded in 1946, they have around 45 employees and are based in Hoddesdon.

Geoff Eustace, Technical Director at Kemlows was an apprentice himself in 1995, while Kemlows have employed six apprentices to date. Geoff describes his most recent experience of employing their current apprentice, George, through HRC as “very good and straightforward. We were sent CVs, which were refined to the specific position we was looking for, we then interviewed the candidates which went very well. George stood out from the crowd and we went from there, the induction process was very easy and our relationship with the college has been fantastic.”

Of George, Geoff says he has “excelled in many areas” and that Kemlows has benefitted from George as he is “bringing youth and enthusiasm to the company”.

Geoff believes “Any employer should consider taking on an apprentice, it’s the way forward. They’re keen, they want to learn, and they want to learn in your industry, so give them the opportunity.”

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Based in Ware, 'Bespoke Performance' specialises in TVR, Nobles and Maserati. It is a small business with a total of 6 employees.

Martin Russell, Service Director / Co-Founder describes his experience of employing an apprentice as “positive, all of the people who turn up to us understand what we want to start with, and then it’s just a matter of conversation to see how we can go forward with that. We’re very specialised in what we do, I need someone who is focused and wants to go forward in the specialised world.”

The benefits his apprentices have brought to Bespoke Performance is “because of the type of product we work on, we need to train people up and the only way to do that is to take on an apprentice – and we grow with them! In the beginning, it takes a lot to train them up, but once they get to grasps with what we’re looking to do and how we’re looking to achieve it. They then begin working on the cars!”

“Anytime I will be looking for apprentices, I will be going through the college. No doubt about it.”

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Apprentice employer 'Business Agent Ltd' is the alternative finance marketplace based in Ware.

Sasha Bright, CEO at the company explains his experience of employing an apprentice as “bringing fresh eyes to the business; they look at things in different ways. They’re looking at it from a younger generation and it gives us the opportunity to train someone and mould someone in the way that we want to. Especially in a very new industry like crowdfunding.”

After being an apprentice himself, Sasha was very keen to take on an apprentice. He believes employing an apprentice has benefitted Business Agent Ltd as “being a very young company you need to do everything on a budget” and there are certain jobs where you need to hire highly professional people. The apprentice can assist and work alongside that person and therefore learns those tasks (such as search engine optimisation, costs per click advertising etc.) and one day perhaps becomes that highly paid person.”

One of Sasha’s apprentices, Andrew, has now been at the company for 5 years after completing his apprenticeship. When Andrew started, “we put him at the base level and started with Search Engine Optimisation, which is quite a repetitive task but you have to learn the basics. Then we put him in design, the lead designer would do a design, give it to Andrew and he would fill up the concept from that. From an employer’s point of view that was great because we had someone who freed up our main website designers. Now 5 years on Andrew is our Web Server Manager.”

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Apprentice employer Hertford and Villages Children’s Centres is a public sector business with 17 employees and 1 apprentice.

The Hertford and Villages Children’s Centre provides information, support and access to services for all families with children under 5, working with other professionals to ensure every family has the support and services they need. These include midwives, health visitors, local preschools, schools and voluntary organisations. The centre also provides fun activities for families as well as parenting courses and adult learning.

The centre decided to recruit an apprentice as they “thought it was a good opportunity to give someone work experience while they are studying". After being told about the AGE grant the centre applied for this to support apprenticeship training. To recruit for the apprenticeship the centre advertised their vacancy through internal advertising, apprenticeship vacancies online, Connexions and JobCentre Plus.

The centre's apprentice Samantha is currently studying Children and Young People’s Workforce Level 2 at HRC while working at the children’s centre. Before employing Samantha as an apprentice, the centre had supported her as a young, single mother.

Senior Play Leader Paula Beckwith, says Samantha “has helped to free up existing staff time and bring a fresh approach and some new ideas to the team. She has also helped to up-skill existing staff in their mentoring and training capacity". For Paula, the benefits of employing an apprentice versus other recruitment routes is that “learning can be done in the workplace and training is tailored to the specific needs of the employer”.

Paula would recommend apprentices to other businesses and young people and says “we have already looked into having another apprentice".

Click here to find out more about recruiting an apprentice.

Jayne Goldsmith works at a construction company called Fire-Tec-Gold Limited as a non-levy employer, offering smoke ventilation engineering. The organisation currently recruits a number of Apprentices to help with company structure.

What are the benefits of hiring an Apprentice?

There are many reasons why an employer will choose to employ an Apprentice. This might be for long-term development, skill shortage, company structure or just the pure satisfaction of changing a young person’s life, there are countless benefits. Jayne said, “Apprentices are absolutely the life and blood of our business, we can train them to the skills needed for our niche business and provide them with the work ethic that we require to go forward.” Apprentices can often be the most loyal and committed members of a company. Jayne believes that the Apprentices they have at the organisation “are able to see the clear career structure for themselves within our business and they can also be positively challenging for our more experienced team members.”

“It’s simply a win-win situation.”

Would you recommend hiring an Apprentice to other employers?

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“Apprentices provide an ideal growth opportunity, especially in a niche Industry like ours. They also ensure that technically we are always on top of the Industry requirements. We found that their thirst for knowledge and enthusiasm for the work energises the entire team”

What was your experience like with our Apprenticeship team?

“Without a doubt, this has been an outstanding partnership which will continue.”

Our team here at HRC are dedicated to finding the right candidate to suit the employer. Through Jayne’s experience with the team, she said “We have learned as we have gone along. HRC know how committed we are to our apprentices and how excellent our apprenticeship is. Through experience, we are now in a position to identify precisely what attributes we are looking for in our new apprentices.”

If you would like to know more about recruiting an Apprentice…
Contact Jas (Business Development Manager)
Tel: 01992411821 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.