Member Article

Boardroom beckons for Yorkshire and Humber apprentices

Just over a quarter of employers in Yorkshire and Humber currently have former apprentices working in senior management positions, City & Guilds research suggests.

Nationally the proportion is 19% however the region’s businesses are more accustomed to promoting former apprentices.

40% of all the employers surveyed across Yorkshire and Humber said apprentices go on to various management positions within their company.

Nationally, an apprentice’s chance of becoming a director is greatest in the construction industry, with 47% of businesses in this sector employing former apprentices in Board level positions. This is followed by manufacturing & engineering (43%), agriculture (33%) and energy and power (33%).

The study was complemented by research amongst some of the companies featured in this year’s City & Guilds Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list[2]. Key findings from the bosses surveyed include:

• 89% said that if they were starting out in their career now they would opt to do an Apprenticeship
• On average, 30% of their company’s senior management positions are filled by former apprentices
• Over half (51%) said the average time for an apprentice to reach a management position in their firm was five years or less, this compares to 33% saying the same for non-apprentices
• The key skills which former apprentices bring to managerial positions were cited as knowledge of the business (98%), on the job experience (95%), and industry specific skills (93%).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .