Online apprenticeship applications and vacancies set new records

 

 

Online apprenticeship applications have grown over 32% in the last year, according to new figures released today by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). Almost 370,000 applications were made between February and April 2013, and 26th April saw 17,700 live vacancies available online, the highest number recorded.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock MP said, “With more vacancies than ever before, Apprenticeships are fast becoming the norm for young people who want to achieve their career goals through an alternative route to University. We want more employers to take advantage of the advice and support available from the National Apprenticeship Service and consider how hiring an apprentice could benefit their business."

This help meet this demand and help employers take on an apprentice NAS has launched two new tools:

1. A small and medium sized employers guide to hiring an apprentice 2. A large employer toolkit to help set up Apprenticeships in an organisation

The beauty industry is still very much divided over apprenticeships. While the indispensible skills that one can learn inside the salon cannot be taught at college, clients find it awkward to have a second pair of eyes in the private sanctuary of a treatment room. It is this, along with the growing concern that colleges do not initially train students well enough, that puts many business owners off having trainees in their salons and spas.

Around 43% of salons and spas already link with local colleges, training the next generation of therapists in their own premises. This increase in applications and vacancies could boost confidence in apprenticeships, leading to more salons and spas taking on their own apprentices and improving the calibre of professionals in the industry.

The most popular day for submitting apprenticeship applications in the period was Monday 18 March 2013, just after National Apprenticeship Week, when 6,730 applications were made in 24 hours.