It’s official – apprenticeships are on the rise. The number of young people applying for apprenticeship schemes is at a record high in the UK, according to recently released figures from the National Apprenticeship Service.

Apprenticeships provide an alternative route to employment and career development through paid on-the-job training. With unemployment amongst 16-17 and 18-24 year olds at 36.4% and 18.6% respectively – coupled with rising university fees, it’s hardly surprising that this route has become increasingly popular. 

You can’t ignore an increase of 32% in online apprenticeship applications year-on-year. The  government continue to invest heavily to ensure that employers - especially small to medium sized businesses - are encouraged and incentivised to provide apprenticeships with the aim of helping to get NEET young people into employment.
 

On your marks for new ‘pre-apprenticeship’ programme

In August 2013 the government will be launching a traineeship (or pre-apprenticeship) programme, initially for 16-19 year olds (and young people with learning disability assessments up to academic age 25) to help prepare young people for apprenticeships and other employment.

With more and more young people choosing the apprenticeship path, and with plans to extend the traineeship programme to be delivered to young people up to the age of 24 in due course, demand for enrolment on the programme is expected to be high.

The new scheme will include three key elements:

• a work placement with a minimum duration of six weeks
• educational support to improve English and Maths skills
• work skills training  with flexible training available dependent on the individual's needs.

With the relatively short implementation period for the traineeship programme, further education colleges set to deliver the programme will need to be prepared for the impact.

Morgan Hunt recruitment agency has been the recruitment partner of choice for much of the further education and employability and skills sector since 2005.

We have an established education division with dedicated teams across the UK that specialise in the recruitment of qualified functional skills and employability tutors and PSD mentors across the further education and employability and skills sectors.

Get in touch to find out more about how our expert teams are equipped to help clients prepare to deliver the new traineeship programme by email education@morganhunt.com or contact your relevant Morgan Hunt office.

For further information on the traineeship programme visit http://www.education.gov.uk/.

For more statistics on the increase in online apprenticeship applications, visit http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/.

* Unemployment stats provided by Parliament Youth unemployment statistics, 12 June 2013

Why finance has gone from being the number crunchers to partners in strategy

A number of key events over the last 5 years have led financial professionals to re-examine their roles. What is different now?

Since the global financial crisis the importance of the CFO has risen dramatically, but it’s not just this event that has propelled them and their functional department into the limelight – finance professionals have gone from being the principle number crunchers to partners in strategy.

The finance function makes two essential contributions to the business; understanding costs and how these translate into outputs that turn profits. This isn’t just about doing the maths, the soul of the challenge lies along a continuum of thinking from; quantifying the value of using alternative delivery models and understanding the dynamics of the business through to ensuring that the organisation has the right structure and skills in place, and that the truth on how to report value is balanced and rigorously upheld in one place. The finance function not only plays a critical role in supporting the business but asks the right questions armed with the right information in order to create it.

In recent months we’ve seen a major retailer wipe billions off their share price following the discovery that its profits had been artificially inflated by some £250m due to a discrepancy between when profits were accounted for from deals with suppliers and when costs were paid. Yet it wasn’t just the accounting errors that raised eyebrows but the sheer way in which eventually the story unfolded. It’s hard to understand why a whistle blower accountant should have to go through a protracted route and through many actors that eventually involved in-house counsel to report concerns; a true indication that all was not well with the culture and structure of the business.

This event, although being a high profile is just one of a number of other types of events that have changed the face of finance for good, not necessarily as a result of misdemeanours, but global incidents, structural change, tax and regulation that conspire together to make the finance function a strategic pin that not only holds everything in place but takes decisions from having better information in a wider context. Commercial deals may not be that commercial if they are not structured in the right way, operational success only comes from efficient and effective delivery of service and products and leadership rewarded from having the right contextual information…the banks may learn a lesson or two from here.

In many businesses today finance has a leading role in innovation that can be financed from tax credits with business strategy that uses finance to create additional and increased value from new business models and playing a critical part in the structures that will deliver this. All this and more finance managers are embracing a more strategic role. They are no longer the number crunchers but delivering the right balance of stability for a sustainable future.  This new dawn has an impact on skills where the qualification is just the foundation. Finance professionals are destined for a very creative and commercial career where nurturing the right attributes can lead to one of the most important roles in the organisation.

Morgan Hunt is a specialist recruiter in the finance sector and offer a consultative service to help you and your organisation find the kind of finance skills that will ensure the continuity of your mission. For more information call 020 7419 8900 or email us.

Searching for a job can often be a tedious and lengthy process. Here at Morgan Hunt we want to try and take the stress out of it in order to make it easier when it comes to finding your next job as we are one of the leading recruitment agencies looking for staff in a variety of industry sectors. The team here have a wealth of experience and knowledge in placing the right people in the right jobs, and are always on hand to help in your journey.

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One of the key benefits to using our service is that it’s designed to save you the time of spending hours looking for a job. Using the simple and easy to use search facilities on our website, you can access a wide variety of vacancies with the click of a mouse. You are also able to narrow these vacancies down to search in job categories, location and even salary, dependant on which is most important to you. Additionally, you can upload your CV to our website for it to then be viewed by potential employers and our service even extends to sending you job alerts when a job we think would be suitable becomes available.

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As we are a leading recruitment agency, we have access to a selection of the best quality jobs. Some firms and employers will choose to only advertise jobs through agencies, so you may not find them through traditional job searching methods. If you take advantage of our service, we can ensure that you are noticed by some of the leading companies looking for new employees.

Expertise

As the team here at Morgan Hunt have experience and expertise in the industries that we recruit for, we can be on hand to offer you advice and guidance to getting a job in your chosen field. We deal directly with employers so have knowledge of what the job market looks like at the moment.

Why not maximise the efficiency of searching for a job and turn to one of the leading recruitment agencies for assistance? Contact us at Morgan Hunt to see how we could help you land your dream vacancy. For more information on the service we offer, feel free to search our website today.