Here at The Apprentice Academy it’s not about us, it’s about our amazing Apprentices and making sure that our clients and customers achieve success with young people and Apprenticeships.
Sometimes however, our work shines out and like with our Amazing Apprentices, people notice what we are doing and report on it. Our work with AstraZeneca is one of those times.
Apprenticeships are no longer just for electricians and mechanics or other trades that they are typically associated with, they are now moving with the times into the world of business and commerce. Large global employers working with The Apprentice Academy, like AstraZeneca, have embraced the change and recently took the decision to recruit their first cohort of business apprentices.
More importantly, AstraZeneca are using the North West as their global testing ground for a new way of thinking, combining an apprentice intake with their traditional graduate programme.
This is testimony to the fact that businesses are now embracing Apprenticeship programmes as the new way to grow their future workforce.
As university fees rise and students are now expected to contribute up to £9000 per year towards their fees, many students and parents are thinking seriously about whether or not a university education is the right path to take. If students are able to get their ideal job via an Apprenticeship route straight from school or college, which incorporates the training, work experience and qualifications they need, then what more will university do for them? Many school and college leavers have also witnessed their brothers and sisters leaving university faced with a lack of opportunities and huge debt, when they leave.
Dom Sheratte, one of new Apprentices, who is joining with AstraZeneca and lives in Macclesfield near Manchester says:
“After finding out about Apprenticeships during a School assembly, I knew straight away that this was the perfect opportunity for me as I did not fully know what I wanted to do at University and did not want to waste time. The AstraZeneca Apprenticeship programme is fantastic and will give me valuable business experience and hopefully a wonderful career. My friends think I have been the luckiest out of all of them, with the best opportunity.”
It’s not just our candidates who appreciate our work, so do their parents. This is what Dom’s dad, Daniel Sheratte, said about The Apprentice Academy:
“We would like to thank you for your highly professional support in helping Dom secure his apprenticeship at AstraZeneca. He has certainly thrived on the challenge presented to him at every level and shown his determination to achieve a positive result. My wife Frances and I are both delighted that Dom has seized this opportunity to develop his practical skills and knowledge in the commercial world. Professional organisations such as AstraZeneca provide young, innovative people with an excellent developmental alternative to an academic route and this is certainly something that has enthused and inspired Dom. With his passion to succeed, we hope that this will lead to an excellent pathway to higher achievements.”
It would seem that schools are also coming around to the apprenticeship way of thinking and realising this is becoming the future. Ruth Roberts – Head of Sixth Form at The King’s School, Macclesfield said:
“We are delighted with the opportunity these high quality apprenticeships offer to Dom and James. The Astra Zeneca apprenticeship scheme is exciting and will allow James and Dom to develop further the skills they have already demonstrated so ably at King’s. Both students are thrilled to have been offered places on the scheme and we are very pleased to strengthen our links with AstraZeneca in this way.”
This makes us feel great at The Academy Towers, as our mission to ensure that Manchester has the talent it needs to be a future city is starting to succeed, just like our apprentices in Manchester.
If you would like to see the article you can find it here.