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Time to pay tribute to the contribution of our fine apprentices

There’s more reason than usual this week to celebrate our apprentices at MultiWebMarketing – as it’s officially National Apprenticeship Week 2022.

Running from 7 to 13 February, this annual celebration is an opportunity to appreciate everything that is great apprentices working in England.

Since May 2010, more than five million apprenticeships have been filled nationwide across an array of sectors and our business has embraced the promotion of youth employment wholeheartedly.

Today we have three apprentices working within the business. Molli Sanderson is working within the Content and Social team, Phoebe Wood is part of the Sales and Admin team and Regan Dunnachie is learning new skills alongside the web development team.

All three are playing an important part in the work we do for our clients every day. But our history for supporting local, young talent dates back even further.

Managing Director Paul Smith first hired an apprentice in September 2013. In total, the business has welcomed 11 apprentices into the building and today, more than 50 per cent of the company’s head count are either current apprentices or former apprentices now in full-time roles.

“I’ve always wanted to support youth employment – it’s something I am an avid believer in,” explained Paul. “They’ve made a massive contribution to our business over the years.

“We are always looking for the best in class and the people in this age group who apply for our apprenticeships have only ever known using social digital platforms, so it gives them a massive advantage to work within our sector.”

Many of our apprentices have gone on to thrive within the MultiWebMarketing environment becoming full-time employees and playing leading roles for the business.

Our Studio Team Leader Kieren Bates is a fantastic example. He was our first ever apprentice – in fact he loved it so much he completed two! His first was in business administration which taught him the fundamentals of how a company within the marketing sector operates. The second was in graphic design and web design allowing him to delve into the core services we offer our clients.

Kieren has stayed with the business and seen the team grow from four team members up to the 17 we have today.

“It’ll be nine years this year since I joined the business with my first apprenticeship and that makes me feel really old,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Jokingly, I always say I’m not allowed to leave but it’s really been a great place to work.

“The apprenticeships taught me a lot, but you also learn so much working hands on within the office.”

The real value in the business investing so much time in apprentices is that it has created an environment which is welcoming and fostered a team which is comfortable and familiar with working with younger team members.

As well as the standard paperwork and literature that comes with the apprenticeship course, we give all our apprentices a training booklet on their arrival which gives an insight into what the team has learned through years of experience delivering customer projects.
Kieran said: “It helps them to learn the way we’ve learned. It helps in providing a crash course to get them up to scratch and to give them somewhere to go if they need some guidance. We pride ourselves on helping them to fit into the team immediately.”