July Help Mail
Hi!
This July Help Mail includes:
- tips from operations manager Jo Trendall on how to successfully onboard new employees remotely
- a new community management technology we’ve been loving
- a conversation with Alexander Daniels Global CEO Nick Pearce and his digital marketing apprentice Sophie on how the first few months have been going
I hope you find it useful.
James
MD, Working Knowledge
Never met your new employee? How to remotely onboard a new candidate
One of the challenges facing employers right now is recruiting and onboarding new employees without having ever met them. This is becoming increasingly normal, and surprisingly, many employers are considering whether to continue with virtual onboarding post-pandemic as it’s been so successful and effective.
So what’s the secret? During the pandemic we have placed dozens of apprenticeship candidates with new employers, and we’ve found there are four key things you can do to get things off on the right note:
1. Get your new employee to assess the business
The first thing we do is set candidates a business analysis task, and this is a really great way for the new recruits to get to understand the business: how it works, how it operates, its history and its status now.
3. Make sure they meet the team – even if it’s virtually
When your new recruit can’t bump into people making a cup of tea, you need to set up short meetings to introduce them. We take a whole-business approach with our digital marketing apprenticeship so we expect our new recruits to get to know each team member, what they do, what part they play within the business, what their responsibilities are and so on.
2. Get them started with ‘dusty shelf’ tasks
The second thing is the ‘dusty shelf’. Every business has a dusty shelf with lots of tasks on it that you keep meaning to get round to doing but never quite do. It’s a great onboarding activity to give your new recruit.
4. Get their perspective on the business
The final part we use to culminate all of this is presenting back. Get your employee to present back to you after one or two weeks what they've learnt about the business.
Read the full article here
A new technology you must try
We’ve recently discovered a new digital platform called Mighty Networks - a community management and engagement platform that enables you to create an online community for your clients, team or members. The platform has features such as:
- Have public, private or secret networks
- Have private groups within networks
- Categorise discussions into topics
- Being able to charge for memberships
- Have expertise within groups
- Set up and manage events
At Working Knowledge we use Mighty Networks to manage our community of apprentices on our Digital Marketing Academy. It is a great place to have discussions on marketing and the apprenticeship.
Discover Mighty Networks here
In focus...
Alexander Daniels Global
Sophie Pontoppidan is a graphic design graduate who recently started as a digital marketing apprentice at Alexander Daniels Global, a recruitment partner for the 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing industry. For CEO Nick Pearce, the departure of its one-person marketing team earlier this year meant the business was effectively going to stop marketing. They needed someone who could hit the ground running.
Read the full article here
Government incentives...ending September 2021
These incentives are for apprentices of any age. The details of the incentives are below:
- £3,000 covid-19 incentive
- c. £1,300 Employer's NIC waiver
- £1,000 18 yo bonus
- £10,450 worth of training
Also, if your employee is on an apprenticeship, the government covers 95% of the training cost. In the case of Digital Marketing, the government sets the training costs at £11,000, so the government contribution is £10,450.
That's up to £14,750 of incentives for an apprentice over the age of 18, and £15,750 for an apprentice who is 18 or under. This is money readily available to upskill your business right now - it's a no brainer!
Give us a call on 0117 304 8000 to find out more.