Apprentices and School Leavers Conference 2014

Overview

There has been a steady increase in the number of apprentice and school leaver programmes available over the last few years. The Centre for Economics and Business Research predict that this will grow even further.

This conference will examine how you can attract the brightest talent, from schools and colleges, to apprenticeship programmes and will guide you through setting up and running apprenticeships. The programme will feature best practice case studies from employers that have been running a successful programme for many years.

Programme highlights:

• Working with parents, schools and colleges to attract leavers

• Examining selection and assessment methods

• Looking at how apprenticeship programmes work

• How to balance school leaver vs graduate programmes

• Qualification and development options

•  Changes to education and political landscapes including funding

This event is for you, if you are an:

HR  or recruitment professional, responsible for the attraction and development of school leavers and apprentices.

SPECIAL OFFER

Buy a place for this year’s Apprentices and School Leavers Summit 2014 in conjunction with our Graduate Recruitment Summit 2015 and save £200!
Book at the end of the page here

Coffee and registration

Chair’s opening remarks

Sue Husband, Executive Director for Apprenticeships and Delivery Services, Skills Funding Agency

Examining the education and political landscape

• Changes to funding and standards
• Future reforms and outcomes from the Richard Review

Tony Allen, ‎Deputy Director Large Companies, Skills Funding Agency

Improving employee diversity and accessing untapped talent

• Supporting disadvantaged youth and helping bring down youth unemployment
• Improving employability skills through pre-apprenticeship training
• Apprenticeships and progression pathways post traineeship
• Government funding

Mike Thompson, ‎Head of Early Careers, Barclays Bank

Questions and discussions with speakers

Knowledge share networking session

Balancing school leaver programme vs. graduates

• Are apprentices developing faster in the organisation
• Impact on graduate intake
• Controlling internal competition

Refreshments and networking

Stream A – Beginning the apprenticeship journey

Stream B – Taking the next steps in your apprenticeship strategy

Apprenticeship programmes; Where to start?

• Different models of apprenticeships and school leaver programmes
• How does funding work?
• Partnering with a training provider or university
• Business benefits

Chris Starling, Head of Apprenticeships, Virgin Media

Understanding Generation Y and the opportunities they can bring to the business

• Practical guidance on how to strengthen your talent pipeline with young employees
• Ensure your managers support young
• Maintaining engagement

James Lawrence, Next Gen Talent Programmes, People Development HR, Visa Europe

Questions with speaker

Questions with speaker

Guide to setting up your programme

• Marketing and selection methods
• Setting the frameworks
• Getting buy-in across the organisation

Rebecca Plant, Head of Apprentice and Graduate Programmes, Capgemini

Updating the apprentice offering

• Learnings along the apprenticeship journey
• Evolving the offering to match business needs
• Steps to ensure the programme remains successful

Emily Austin, Senior Emerging Talent Manager – Apprenticeship & School to Work Programmes, Lloyds Banking Group

Questions with speaker

Questions with speaker

Lunch and networking

It doesn’t have to be degree OR apprenticeship

• Create a blended approach to apprenticeships, professional qualifications and degrees
• Engage high achievers on your apprenticeship programme and create higher education pathways for all
• Ensure universities are involved in design of apprenticeships and progression pathways

James Hammill, Director, BPP Professional Apprenticeships

Knowledge share networking session

Refreshments and networking

Panel Discussion – Measuring the value of your apprenticeship programme

• Setting KPI’s and evaluating the programme
• How quickly does it take for apprentices to reach set targets?
• ROI from early careers

Panelist include:
Colin Campbell-Austin, Head of Talent and People Development, Telegraph Media Group
Claire Paul, ‎Head of Entry Level Talent, BBC
Tom Hadley, Director of Policy & Professional Services, REC

Getting the right people and making sure they are successful

• Attracting future talent
• Taking a different approach to recruitment
• Offering structure and support

Katerina Rudiger, Head of Skills and Policy Campaigns, CIPD

Questions and discussion with speakers

Chairman’s closing remarks and close of conference

Mike Thompson, ‎Head of Early Careers, Barclays Bank

Mike has been working in Barclays for over 24 years in a variety of frontline and support leadership roles across the business.

His past five years have been in HR, where he has built up extensive experience implementing management and leadership development programmes, employee engagement programmes and more recently, managing the development of Barclays learning and development curriculum

His recent projects include the roll out of the Leadership Excellence Programme across RBB (retail and business banking) and the delivery of the “Be the Change” employee engagement programme also across the global retail bank.

Mike currently manages a number of award winning early careers programmes including the Barclays apprenticeship programme and Barclays degree programme that won the CIPD Best Talent Programme 2012.

He is passionate about developing young talent and tackling diversity and equality issues as well as providing meaningful solutions that address youth unemployment.

James Hammill, Director, BPP Professional Apprenticeships

James is the leader of two of the fastest growing business units within the BPP Professional Education Group, BPP Professional Apprenticeships and BPP Financial Services. He has been working in the professional education business for the past 12 years starting out as a tutor for the Financial Training Company before taking on a series of management positions and eventually moving to BPP three years ago. For the past three years James has worked with some of the leading employers in the UK to help them professionalise their workforce through establishing apprenticeship programmes, enhancing graduate schemes, providing professional qualification training and degrees for existing staff as well as supporting professional development.  With the continual need to professional the workforce and the growing demand for early career talent there has never been a more exciting time to be involved in professional training and apprenticeships.

Rebecca Plant, Head of Graduate & Apprentice Programmes, Capgemini

Becky has been working at Capgemini for 8 years, starting out as the PA to the UK CTO before making the career leap in to HR. In January 2012 Becky became programme manager for Capgemini’s Higher Apprentice Programme, and has progressed to take over all responsibility for the  Graduate and Apprentice programmes. Becky also sits on the Digital Trailblazers Steering Group as part of the IT sectors apprenticeship reforms.

Becky has built up extensive knowledge within apprenticeships and higher education. Campaigning tirelessly that apprenticeships and higher education can work together, Capgemini launched their two BSC degrees with Aston University in March 2014, cementing her belief that lifelong learning is possible combining vocational education and Higher Education. With over 200 Higher Apprentices on programme within Capgemini there is not much that Becky hasn’t seen, encountered or experienced when bringing apprentices in the world of work and she has brought those learning’s in to the everyday working of Capgemini’s HR & L&D teams to deliver new ways of operating.

She is passionate about creating the right environment for young people within business and works hard to tackle the gap between education and employment, so that young people have every opportunity to realise their potential and go as far as they possibly can.

Katerina Rüdiger, Head of Skills and Policy Campaigns, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

Katerina is the Head of Skills and Policy Campaigns at the CIPD. She leads the Policy Campaigns team, which works to turn policy into action, to positively influence employer behaviour. She has developed and leads on the CIPD’s Learning to Work programme that aims to tackle youth unemployment by increasing employer engagement with young people. She is responsible for the CIPD’s employer youth volunteering programmes, including Steps Ahead Mentoring and the CIPD’s collaboration with the Inspiring the Future initiative. Katerina also leads on the CIPD’s approach to skills policy issues.

Previously, Katerina worked as a policy analyst for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) where she led and produced their policy review on skills utilisation and high-performance working.

Chris Starling, Head of Apprenticeships, Virgin Media

Chris joined the cable industry in the late 90’s as an entry level employee. He worked his way up the management line before getting involved in the launch of Virgin Media’s first apprenticeship program in 2008. Chris now heads up a team that manages all apprentice frameworks across all areas of Virgin Media and was involved in the steering group that lead to Virgin Media launching it’s first traineeship in August 2013. Chris is passionate about youth engagement and has seen first hand the results that are possible from investing in early years career pathways.

James Lawrence, Next Gen Talent Programmes, People Development HR, Visa Europe

Dad, husband and when those jobs are complete… learning and development professional specialising in delivering Gen Y talent programmes. Specific focus on blending higher education with vocational learning. As an ex-apprentice, and someone dedicated to helping parents, teachers, young people and other employers understand more about alternative pathways to achieving a degree, James also spends time as an apprenticeship ambassador for the governments National Apprenticeship Service.

Sue Husband, Executive Director for Apprenticeships and Delivery Services, Skills Funding Agency

Sue Husband is the Executive Director for Apprenticeships and Delivery Services for the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), an Executive Agency of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The SFA is responsible for £4.1 billion of funding each year, supporting skills training through contracts with employers, and over 1,000 colleges and private training organisations in England. Their job is to fund and promote adult further education (FE) and skills training in England, including traineeships and apprenticeships, in a way that supports economic growth.

Sue is responsible for the apprenticeships division, ensuring the delivery of high-quality apprenticeships for employers and individuals through the agency’s two customer-facing services: the National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service. This includes the promotion of apprenticeships; the provision of a responsive, high-quality service to employers; working with partners to improve the design and delivery of high-quality apprenticeships; championing and supporting traineeships as part of the apprenticeship family; and the promotion of the WorldSkills UK skills competitions to employers and young people.

Before joining the SFA, Sue spent 26 years working for McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd. Her most recent role was as Head of Education, where she had responsibility for McDonald’s Education programmes, from apprenticeships through to foundation degrees.

Tony Allen, Deputy Director Large Companies, Skills Funding Agency

Tony leads on managing the large employers and national providers, taking on industrial partnerships and employer ownership.

Tony and his team’s priorities are to maximise access amongst employers to Agency funding, to ensure a growth in apprenticeships and traineeships.

They are also responsible for ensuring the overall delivery of government priorities, through the largest national providers, and intervening where required to mitigate any risk to funds, delivery of government priorities or skills provision

Colin Campbell-Austin, Head of Talent and People Development, Telegraph Media Group (TMG)

Colin joined TMG in August 2013 from Channel 4. He cares about people having the opportunities to develop themselves so their talent can shine.

“I don’t care about people’s background, up bringing or qualifications. I care about raw talent being given the opportunity to develop. Talent comes in all shapes and sizes it’s not just about being young, it’s ageless. Passion, enthusiasm, hard work and life experiences are what make talented people”

Colin and his team are responsible and manage the suite of the TMG Academy’s Future Talent Programmes. The team also mentor and help develop TMG’s staff so their goals can be achieved, whichever sector of the business they work in.

Claire Paul, ‎Head of Entry Level Talent, BBC

In a career spanning 27 years in the broadcasting industry, Claire has undertaken a wide range of senior editorial and management roles. She’s currently Head of Entry Level Talent for the BBC, working to ensure that the brightest talent from the broadest range of backgrounds has the opportunity to join the organisation. A journalist by background, Claire has been the General Manager of BBC News and the General Manager of BBC Radio & Music. In this role, she project managed the launch of the BBC’s digital radio networks. Before that she was Head of Editorial Standards for BBC Production, working with the BBC’s Production Board to ensure that the BBC’s television programmes met the highest editorial standards. Claire started off her career as a radio presenter and, at 26, was the BBC’s youngest ever radio station Editor when she launched what is now BBC Southern Counties Radio

Emily Austin, Senior Emerging Talent Manager – Apprenticeship & School to Work Programmes

Emily joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2005 and has held a number of specialist HR roles, most recently in early careers and emerging talent management.  

She has developed and led the Group’s apprenticeship offering since its launch in 2012, seeing over 2,000 apprentices start on programme.  Apprenticeships have transformed the way the bank sees emerging talent and the programme has become a core part of its talent proposition with commitment to create over 5,000 apprenticeship opportunities by 2017.  Emily has also managed the design and delivery of a higher apprenticeship programme, providing a genuine alternative to university in a number of disciplines including digital, marketing, IT and project management.

Emily is passionate about providing opportunities for young people to gain insight and access to business and is currently leading the Group’s approach to engaging with schools, creating innovative propositions to support student pre-employability development and transition into work.

Tom Hadley, Director of Policy & Professional Services, REC

Tom Hadley is Director of Policy and Professional Services at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). His role focuses on lobbying key Government and EU officials on a range of labour market issues and highlighting REC initiatives to promote industry standards, including enforcement of a Code of Professional Practice, audit schemes and the Diversity Pledge. Previous roles include six years at the CBI, working at recruitment and economic development consultancy MBA Training Research & Development, a traineeship within the European Commission and working for the in-house legal department of the French multi-national Vivendi. 

If you want us to manage your full end-to-end graduate recruitment process, we’ve got the skills, the reach and the experience to do that. Easily. Or if you want us to look after key elements of the graduate recruitment process that complement your existing activities – such as marketing, screening and interviews – we can do that too. .