In hiring young talent, we are helping to shape the professional careers of our apprentices, giving them a valuable opportunity into fantastic careers. It also helps shape the direction of the business through the new routes Aston Shaw is able to develop and offer.
With the ever-changing landscape of apprenticeships, there are real opportunities to keep expanding entry routes into professional careers, challenging young people by introducing them straight into work whilst receiving training, as well as a great cost-effective alternative to the university route. Hiring apprentices also enables businesses to recover following the pandemic.
Whereas many of our members of staff have worked from home on and off in alignment with government guidelines since March 2020, our apprenticeship schemes have continued to be immensely successful. Our current apprentices adapted very quickly to the shift in operations, and since the initial lockdown we have continued to recruit more apprentices into our team.
We accept applications all year round, but we review the applications for those who are leaving full time education around May time for the apprentices to start in the summer or early autumn.
With our accounting apprenticeships, an apprentice will usually start on a Level 3 AAT Apprenticeship which takes around 12 months to achieve. After this, they will progress onto the Level 4 AAT Apprenticeship which takes around 18 months to complete.
The accountancy training providers we use are Kaplan and First Intuition, with some employees also studying ACCA through an apprenticeship. The apprentices will gain their certificate in their relevant qualification plus an apprenticeship qualification.
Even with the closures of colleges, our apprentices have been able to continue their studies remotely. We actively ensure they have the necessary equipment, support and facilities to successfully progress in their studies. This is also made necessary by the exceptional efforts made by our training providers, whose lecturers have continued to provide comprehensive education to our members of staff.
We have also recently expanded our HR department, ensuring that all staff have the support they need when working throughout the pandemic. Part of our fundamental values is giving young people the opportunity to get into fantastic careers, so establishing an secure support network for our younger staff has been another key to our success.
In order to progress in the current environment, we also expanded our marketing team and have taken on a digital marketing apprentice. This ensures that we can continue our business outreach digitally, overcoming some of the limitations that lockdown brings.
We look forward to introducing exciting new opportunities and to welcoming a new group of apprentices into our firm in 2021.
To see our full list of current vacancies and for further details of what it is like to work at Aston Shaw, visit our careers page.
