Not at all! Many have a picture of an apprentice as a school leaver, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be anyone. Any age. Any level of experience. Many of our apprentices were already working with their employer before they started. Our youngest is 18 and the oldest is 53. It could be someone on the shop floor who wants to change careers or someone in administration that you want to hang on to by investing in their skills. The only stipulation is that they don’t have much formal marketing training as that can affect the funding structure. You can read more about fees and funding here.

They will receive robust, multi-faceted support throughout their apprenticeship journey. This includes regular coaching sessions with a marketing professional, access to a wellbeing mentor, peer support through Mighty Networks, monthly live 'surgery' sessions for feedback on assignments, and weekly expert marketing webinars. You can find out more about the support apprentices receive here.

This is a common misconception – you can pay an apprentice any amount above the age-related apprentice living wage. So with an existing employee, you should not change their salary at all unless it is a promotion. The only person that needs to know your employee is now an apprentice is HMRC; if they are under 25 you don’t have to pay their Employers’ NIC. Very few of our ‘apprentices’ are known as apprentices; they have titles ranging from Digital Marketing Executive to Content Creator and Email Marketing Executive.

Our coaches and mentors are seasoned marketing professionals with a wide range of experience in the industry. They all have their own marketing clients as consultants so are not ‘just’ teachers but have up-to-the-minute practical knowledge of solving real marketing challenges. They provide guidance, support, and invaluable insights. You can find out more about the Working Knowledge Team here.

You will meet with your coach to agree on what your apprentice will be doing for the business before the programme starts and then again every month. The better the communication, the better the results. Apprentices also have the chance to attend regular expert webinars where they will have the chance to put marketing questions to an expert, solve business conundrums and feel connected to the programme. Throughout the programme, we will review the activities to ensure you feel you and your team member are getting value from the programme and they are able to put their learning to good use. We will find out how things are going with your business, your needs and your future plans and will shape the learning to meet these needs.

The government stipulation is that 20% of your apprentice’s time should be focussed on the apprenticeship, termed ‘off-the-job training’. That’s equivalent to one day a week within work-hours. Our delivery method means your apprentice is only out of the business one day per month. They also attend weekly webinars and a 1:1 monthly meeting with their coach which will equal another day per month. The remainder of their apprenticeship time will be working on  real marketing tasks for your business providing you with tangible results.