Creating jobs for young people was one of the most pressing issues in the Chancellor’s summer update, when he announced a new £2bn Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of jobs for young people in the wake of coronavirus. Measures include big investments in apprenticeships, traineeships and employment support schemes as the government seeks to stave off high levels of unemployment for this demographic.
We have always strongly believed in investing in future talent, with our apprentice and graduate programmes at the heart of that. Our apprenticeship initiatives have been ahead of the curve and we are committed to increasing them in the future. We launched the first ever apprenticeship in Housing and Property Management in partnership in 2016 with provider Catch22 through the Government’s Trailblazer scheme. But our commitment to apprenticeships goes back to 2012, when we worked with IRPM and the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust. At this time, out of the whole ARMA membership, of the eight apprenticeships created, five were with us.
We value our apprentices very highly and a large proportion of them go on to become full employees of Rendall & Rittner once they finish the training. All of them come out with a professional qualification at the end of the course, as well as earning a basic salary throughout their course. There are currently seven apprentices who are reaching the end of their courses and will be taking their final assessments in the next few months. We hope to offer them all a permanent position on successful completion.
Our Graduate Programme is also thriving – the next intake of eight graduates will join us at the beginning of September to begin their training programme across all parts of the business. And progress of the latest cohort was not interrupted by lockdown – five of them will complete their training in October and again we intend to offer them all permanent roles.
Our people are our greatest asset and so investing in our staff is vital to the ongoing success of the business. That’s why we take so seriously our ‘Investors in People’ Platinum accreditation, which is the international standard for excellence in people management. We intend to continue to increase the opportunities we have for apprentices and graduates so we can encourage the up and coming professional generation and give them a chance to learn, develop and flourish.
