A Derby training academy is marking National Careers Week by urging businesses to upskill their employees and sign them up to apprenticeships.
Leading Midlands apprenticeships provider, Derby-based Blue Lion Training Academy, is welcoming employers to its Pride Park office for a no appointment open week from March 6-11 so that companies can find out all about how apprenticeships are a highly cost-effective way of helping people with their career journey – and how they hugely benefit the business too.
Harj Dhanjal, founder of Blue Lion, said many businesses were not aware of how apprenticeships were not just for school-leavers seeking an alternative pathway to university, but could be undertaken by people of any age and were an extremely cost-effective solution to help firms retain and upskill staff.
His company has trained many apprentices ranging in age from 19 to 60 years old on behalf of many companies including Unipart Rail, INEOS, JCB, NHS, and Certas Energy, drawing on the skills of industry experts to deliver high quality training. Blue Lion offers a range of courses including project management, digital marketing, PR and communications. Its ‘Continuous Improvement Apprenticeships’ follow the ‘Lean Six Sigma’ programme for boosting processes, a system developed by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota.
Harj said: “We’re opening up our offices during National Careers Week and inviting employers and employees to come along and chat to us about how apprenticeships can help them. We really need to get away from the traditional idea of an apprentice as a young school-leaver because the truth is that anyone at any age can benefit. Our oldest apprentice at Blue Lion is 60 years old!
“We’re seeing a big HR retention issue at the moment with many organisations experiencing a high turnover of staff. Investing in employees by inviting them to take part in apprenticeships is a great way of showing them they are valued, and it will significantly improve your business too, in areas of management, marketing and/or media. Apprenticeships are actually very cost-effective. Small businesses for example will only pay for five per cent of employees’ training and the Government foots the bill for the rest. It really is a great solution.”
One of Blue Lion’s management tutors is Dave Jones, who alongside Harj worked for Rolls-Royce for many years.
Dave himself started his own career as an apprentice back in the eighties and has never looked back! He joined Rolls-Royce as an engineering apprentice aged 16 and said he could not have chosen a better path.
He said. “I went to a careers fair during my last year at school and was thinking about what I wanted to be. I was the sort of person who wanted a bit of money in my back pocket! My apprenticeship lasted four and a half years and you’d swap round different departments every eight months, learning the skills to be a craftsman. I remember spending months in the milling section, learning all about turning and grinding.
“My job with Rolls-Royce over 36 years took me all over the world, and by the end of my time there I was a business improvement facilitator, working with teams who had identified the need for change within their processes.
“In terms of the content of the apprenticeships I lead on, it’s all about helping businesses improve their processes to either boost quality, or speed, or both. All processes have the opportunity to be improved. I did some work with a company in the US which had a particular process which was taking the team 105 days. With the help I was able to give them, we got it down to 47.
“I love working for Blue Lion. It’s been a breath of fresh air to do something different but still the same. Everything in business has the ability to be improved, you have just got to stop and look.”
One of the apprentices that Dave is currently mentoring is Jane Lawler, a depot supervisor for oil company Certas Energy, who aged 56 is currently studying for a level three improvement technician on Blue Lion’s Continuous Improvement Apprenticeships scheme.
She said: “When my employer first asked me about doing an apprenticeship, I thought they were having a laugh!
“I thought my career axis was kind of on its way down, but actually, you never know what’s around the corner in life and it’s still worth having new things to put on your CV.
“As part of the apprenticeship I needed to sit functional English and maths again as it’s been a long time since I did those exams, and I really enjoyed that. I’ve enjoyed proving that I can still take things on board at my age. It’s not something I thought I would be doing and I’m pleased I have.
“Also, by doing an apprenticeship at work you can see that the company has invested in you.”
Everyone who is interested in finding out more about how apprenticeships can benefit businesses is invited to come along to chat to the Blue Lion team at its offices on Pride Park, at 13 Mallard Way, DE24 8GX, between 9am – 5pm each day.
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