This week we are focusing on National Apprenticeship Week which runs from 4th to 8th March 2019. This is the 12th National Apprenticeship Week which the Government has promoted and this year its focus is to demonstrate how apprentices can “blaze a trail” in an organisation.
At Jacksons, we have a number of apprentices working in our firm, and as such we are very supportive of the Government’s promotion of apprenticeship schemes.
We feel very passionate about the involvement of apprentices in our business. We believe we are quite unique in our approach to developing and supporting the potential of all of our staff but most notably our apprentices. It is quite unusual for firms in the legal sector to take on apprentices and most are likely to focus on the development of their legal staff only. We are a firm which employs around 75 staff with 5% of our staff comprising apprentices.
We employed our first apprentice in 2014 in the role of business administration. Since that time we have employed a number of other apprentices to fill business administration roles, reception roles and secretarial roles. Our apprentices are now embedded within the firm and we currently have five working in different departments within the practice including private client, general office, residential conveyancing and reception.
We are passionate about everyone, whatever their background, to be given the opportunity to achieve their career ambitions and not just those who come from privileged backgrounds. We need to remember that not everyone is fortune enough or has a desire to go on to University after leaving school. We firmly believe that by offering young people the chance to gain work experience with us via an apprenticeship scheme, this increases the likelihood of that young person obtaining a successful career whether that be in law, accountancy, marketing or otherwise.
To coin the Government’s phrase this year, we certainly believe our apprentices have “blazed a trail” with us and here’s a few examples:
Benefit
Since the introduction of apprentices in our new build team at Stockton, the department has seen a 50% uplift in work and a 90% uplift month on month in turnover. The apprenticeship scheme has also allows us to plan the launch of our new build team in our Newcastle office in Spring 2019.
Learn
By employing apprentices, our existing staff members have had the opportunity to train our new apprentices allowing them in turn to develop their own organisational and development skills.
Aspire
We have had the opportunity to care for our apprentices and consider their circumstances on an individual basis. We published an article featuring Emma Oakley recently https://bit.ly/2QNAn97and this is what Emma has had to say “I would say my time at Jacksons in the Private Client department has been extremely interesting and has given me amazing opportunities to develop my confidence as well as communication skills, telephone skills, IT skills. Each and every client case varies and this has given me chance to learn about different aspects of working with the private clients in Wills, Trusts and Probate. No two client cases are the same, which has provided me with a lot of information that I can apply when working on files in the future. There is a lot that goes into each file, so I have received training that I can use to progress my career further in the future.”
It is plain to see the positive impact that an apprenticeship can have on a young person who may be struggling to find a career path due to personal circumstances.
Zest
Employing apprentices has allowed us to view our organisation a little differently, and the introduction of young people with a passion to learn has invigorated other members of staff who in turn have developed their willingness to learn. The desire to learn, which is apparent from our apprentices, resulted in all of our staff embarking upon a customer service course which has benefitted our individual staff but also our client base.
Energise
The introduction of apprentices has increased the diversity of our firm. We now have members of staff who have worked here throughout their career, but we also benefit from the “new generation” who are just starting out with their first job. The introduction of younger members of staff has allowed us to develop our teams and particularly our use of social media.
We firmly believe that employment of apprentices in our firm has allowed us to grow as a business, whilst also assisting the development and growth of individuals in the region.
For more information on how you can Blaze a Trail, with apprentices in your organization, visit the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/national-apprenticeship-week-2019.
