At Plan, we have recently hired an IT Apprentice, who is taking the Level 3 Infrastructure Technician Apprenticeship with East Surrey College.
Based on our experiences, IT apprenticeships are a great opportunity for businesses, and we believe more organisations should consider them. Here are the reasons why:
- First Line Support Requirements
As the business grows, your first line support requirements grow with it. For Plan, hiring someone who was keen to get stuck in and learn quickly has provided an instant boost to the team. Despite having joined only recently, our apprentice already deals with over 70 support requests every fortnight. There have already been improvements to some of our first line support processes and workflows, and we look forward to seeing more efficiencies in the future.
- Flexible Assessment Criteria
The course requirements accommodate the needs of different sized businesses, rather than taking a dogmatic approach. The flexibility means companies can focus on providing the skills that meet their specific IT requirements, whilst at the same time maximising an apprentice’s chance to perform well in their assessments. Our apprentice has recently started leading the development of First Line Support projects. This will be particularly beneficial to the business itself as well as providing assets to showcase on his assessment portfolio.
- Wider Team Development
The appointment also enables businesses to develop the skill sets of other members in the team. In the Plan team, other first line support team members have been able to spend more time developing their coding skills, giving them the opportunity to fix more complex issues in the future. Since the beginning of the apprenticeship has started we have been able to upskill the team as a whole and also meet the requirements of the growing business.
Hiring an IT apprentice has been a major boost for us as a team and Plan would encourage other businesses to look into doing the same!
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