My colleague met Mike from Stockton Council Learning & Skills Service at a networking event and agreed a follow up meeting to discuss training. At this meeting Mike explained their training offer and also apprenticeships in detail. He followed this up with an email covering everything we had discussed (apprenticeships, regulations, the qualification, recruitment process etc) so that we had it for reference.
We decided to take on a Business Administration Apprentice (Level 2) and we got back in touch with Mike for his help with this. We told him exactly what the job would involve and provided a ‘Person Specification’. Mike then put an advert together for us and advertised it on the National Apprenticeship website and the Learning & Skills social media outlets. When the advert closed they looked through all of the applications on our behalf and then met the candidates for a ‘pre interview’. Following this they sent us details of the most suitable candidates. We reviewed their applications and decided to interview them. We told Mike when we would like to hold the interviews and what the format would be and he made all of the arrangements for us.
We met several good candidates and it was a difficult decision but offered the apprenticeship to the successful candidate and were pleased when she accepted. Mike arranged for her Assessor Allison to come in when she started and to complete all of the sign up paperwork with us. Allison explained the qualification to us again at this point and went through all of the details.
Allison now makes regular visits to observe our Apprentice who also enjoys her ‘off the job training’ taught sessions at Stockton Council Learning & Skills Service and is progressing well. We are kept up to date with her progress and often have ‘progress reviews’.
We know that if we have any issues or need any further help or information we can always contact Mike and/or Allison.