Careers Worcestershire
About Careers Worcestershire
With so many businesses facing periods of change, it is more important than ever that we respond to the growing demands of our economy. One of the biggest challenges businesses within Worcestershire face, is recruitment. How do we tackle the issue of workforce planning, ensuring that businesses have a contingency in place when a skills gap becomes more prevalent?
Worcestershire has an ageing population. 1 in 3 of Worcestershire’s workforce are aged over 50 and are highly skilled at what they do, but what will happen when this group of people start to retire, and take their knowledge with them? The majority of educated young people leave the county to find opportunities elsewhere. Now is the time to ensure that the young people of Worcestershire get quality training opportunities with Worcestershire based businesses – making them employers of choice and securing their own futures.
How can we help?
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce are working in partnership with Worcestershire County Council to deliver the Careers Worcestershire programme. Part funded by the European Social Fund this project sees us working with 6 other delivery partners. Their objective is to ensure that young people are aware of the new vocational qualifications available to them as an entryway to the workplace. This project aims to address the skills gap that our county faces. The Chamber’s objective is to ensure that businesses are aware of the options available to them – by upskilling their existing workforce, by developing a young person that can offer new skills and ideas, or both! By creating stronger links between businesses and further education providers we hope to improve the discourse between business leaders and teachers, allowing businesses to communicate what skills they need.
Our chamber advisors can support you with information and guidance on Apprenticeships, T levels, Traineeships and Work Experience placements.
Apprenticeships
Hiring an Apprentice is an assertive way to develop talent within your business. It helps to keep your workforce motivated, skilled and qualified. Apprenticeships are based on 80% workplace training and 20% classroom learning. You can adapt the classroom learning element of the apprenticeship to suit the needs of your business. Government funding is currently available to help businesses cover the cost of apprenticeship training.
T Levels
T Levels have been designed by employers to help meet the demand for a skilled workforce. These are 2 year vocational qualifications which follow on from GCSE’s and are the equivalent to 3 A Levels. This is a free government scheme with a £1,000 incentive payment for businesses taking placements from now until 31st July 2022. These courses are based on 80% classroom learning and 20% industry placement.
Traineeships
These are work based skills development programmes lasting between 6 weeks – 1 year. Businesses need to be able to offer meaningful, high quality work experience placements. This is a free government scheme and provides a stepping-stone to apprenticeships for young people. It also allows businesses to test the concept of a new position within the company without the overheads of hiring.
Work Experience
These are work based placements for people who want to test out a job role, company or sector to see if it is the right fit for them. These placements are often unpaid, although some businesses do choose to pay a wage.
Delivery Partners
Get in Touch
For further details on any of the above options, please get in touch via the form below.
Skills for Worcestershire
For more information about our Membership packages
Get in touch with our membership team