This National Apprenticeship Week, we speak to Tanya Horscroft, Learning & Development Manager at Vail Williams, about how we support students through their apprenticeship.
It all starts with mentorship.
Mentor support
We have a great many internal technical property experts who are willing and able to share their knowledge and experience with our apprentices, and we allocate each one of them with an apprenticeship manager.
They hold regular check-in meetings with apprentices to discuss progress, opportunities or any challenges that the apprentice might need support with, whilst sharing their own knowledge and experience.
Structured learning
We always make sure our apprentices have access to any courses or CPD that they may require to help them with their apprenticeship – either through our online training platform or through the delivery of training with an external provider.
Hands-on learning
Where appropriate, we provide department placements for our apprentices, to expose them to various areas of the business. This ensures that they gain a rounded insight into several advisory specialisms.
If apprentices have a particular interest or passion in an area, we try to ensure that this forms part of their placement, but also encourage our apprentices to experience other areas which they may not have considered.
Soft skills development
Whilst an apprenticeship covers the technical element of learning for a variety of subject areas, we also aim to provide ample opportunities for our apprentices to build up their professional skills – such as presenting with confidence workshops and more.
We are always looking to develop and grow our apprenticeship scheme, which is where having a dedicated Learning & Development Manager comes in.
Programme design
We have built our apprenticeship programme in alignment with our organisational goals, and to industry standards.
It is an evolving programme which we are always looking to improve following feedback from our apprentices and their internal support team.
Pipeline needs analysis
We work with key stakeholders within the business to understand where there may be opportunity to bring in a new apprentice or convert an existing member of staff to become an apprentice, in line with our current/future business requirements.
Evaluation
Tracking the progress of our apprentices and reviewing the effectiveness of our programme is vital and, together with the wider support team behind it, we ensure that we evaluate outcomes, providing key analytical data to our Executive Board on a regular basis.
At the end of the day, a successful apprenticeship is as much about what we put into our apprentices, as it is about what they bring to the role. This collaboration, together with the nurturing and supportive working environment we have is, in our experience, a proven recipe for success.
