Isn’t it better to employ seasoned veterans with experience in your industry? Sometimes yes, for specialised roles, but you cannot build a business around a few individuals, it must be built around a culture and consistent values throughout the organisation.
At Kwik Fit we bring in apprentices who will fit into and strengthen our culture and it works. Currently around nine in 10 apprentices stay with us after completing their apprenticeship and around 10% of apprentices have gone into senior leadership roles. A significant number of employees who have been with the organisation for more than 20 years started as apprentices, including the operations director.
The Kwik Fit culture is built around providing the best service to our customers and truly caring about every vehicle that comes into our centres. By bringing in staff at an apprentice level we can instil this culture early and watch it flourish as they grow with the business.
Business leaders must understand that just having an apprentice scheme is not enough. The true benefits cannot be reaped until the full weight of your organisation is behind it. This means that both financial investment and a commitment from senior management and the rest of the workforce are required.
It’s about making your business more attractive to a school leaver than going to college or perhaps getting an unskilled job. To attract the hungrier, more dedicated people we ensure that Kwik Fit gives apprentices a clear career path, and as such we employ them in full-time, permanent roles.
Those selected to join an apprentice scheme should clearly understand what they can achieve in the role. They are not likely to be experienced in your sector (or in any sector for that matter). This can be seen as a negative, but view it positively – you can recruit for attitude and values and train for skills. Give them options to learn more, set them targets, and provide routes into more specialised fields and management.
Many of those taken on through an apprenticeship may not have had another job or may lack the skills that provide a career foundation. As such we put a lot of investment into providing real learning experiences. We ensure that while they learn about fitting tyres and servicing, they are also given key English and maths skills as well as experience in customer service and teamwork.
Employing apprentices also has the benefit of linking organisations to their communities. Through our programme at Kwik Fit we are taking on 200 apprentices across the whole of the UK in 2015, creating jobs in all regions.
This provides those who do not want to move away from home the opportunity to join a world-class organisation without having to leave their network of family and friends. National coverage has the added benefit of demonstrating support for local communities and thus building strong relationships.
Kwik Fit was awarded a Grade 1 (Outstanding) from Ofsted for its apprentice scheme, something the business is truly proud of. We invest in our employees’ careers from the beginning and continue to do so throughout their development. This way both the company and individuals benefit for years to come from the strong foundations laid by the apprenticeship programme.
Ian Kirkpatrick is group HR director at Kwik Fit Group
