You’re hired! Dorian Gonsalves advises on how franchises can benefit from helping young people

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many young people facing considerable difficulties, including the loss of youth employment opportunities.

You’re hired! Dorian Gonsalves advises on how franchises can benefit from helping young people

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many young people facing considerable difficulties, including the loss of youth employment opportunities. Ongoing lockdown restrictions, online tuition, and high levels of student debt are making University placements less appealing to young people who nevertheless have a great deal to offer in terms of ambition, enthusiasm and talent and could be a fantastic asset to any franchise. Apprenticeship schemes are offering students the opportunity to ‘learn as they earn’ and they can seem like a much more attractive alternative than going to University. In addition, the Government is offering any business that takes on a young person as an apprentice before 30th September 2021 an incentive of £3000 to go towards training and assessment, so it is most certainly something for franchisees to seriously consider.

The Belvoir Group has its Central Office based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and as a responsible franchisor we have endeavoured to play a part in addressing local challenges by recruiting three new apprentices from the town’s College & University centre between June and December 2020. These new apprentices are either studying for their accounting qualifications, or are completing a more generic Customer Services apprenticeship that will enable them to gain experience across several different departments such as HR, recruitment and IT. We intend to take on a further three apprentices at Central Office during the second half of this year. In addition, Belvoir has become accredited as a Kickstart Scheme Gateway, offering placements within the Belvoir, Newton Fallowell, Northwood and Lovelle brands to around 40 young people who would otherwise be at risk of long-term employment. 

I strongly believe that franchisees who are willing to support young people via their local College’s apprenticeship scheme could find this to be a mutually beneficial and worthwhile business partnership. Apprenticeships can help franchisees to develop a pool of fully trained, ambitious young local people who become familiar with their processes, are keen to develop career progression, and are well positioned to become a real asset to the business. Taking on apprentices can also provide franchisees with an opportunity to establish a reputation for themselves in their community as good local employers. 

The Belvoir Group first established its apprenticeship programme at Central Office in 2016. Our first apprentice, Catalyn Bavister, went on to win the title of Apprentice of the Year, and qualified as an Accounting Apprentice in 2020. She has now moved into our Audit and Compliance team to further her career as an auditor and is proving herself to be a much-valued employee. To date Belvoir has sponsored eight apprentices, enabling them to gain qualifications and experience in property management, business administration, HR, IT, accountancy and customer services.  

The apprenticeship scheme is a fantastic way for young people to earn as they learn, offering a valuable alternative to University and opening up new, exciting career paths. It also means that young people do not accrue huge student debts and can gain the necessary business experience to enable them to apply for any positions that may be available within the company when their apprenticeship ends.

On a personal level I have long been a believer in helping to support young people. I began volunteering as a Business Mentor for the Prince’s Trust in 2013 after it was recommended to me by someone else in the franchise world. I would recommend volunteering to anyone who is interested in sharing their knowledge and doing something worthwhile that will help a young person to feel supported in a new business venture or enable them to embark on a new career path. I am a busy person, but I have found volunteering some of my spare time with the Prince’s Trust to be an extremely meaningful project. Young people can bring so much enthusiasm, new ideas and ambition to businesses, as well as to their local community, provided they have access to the right opportunities and support.

For further information on the Prince’s Trust visit: www.princes-trust.org.uk and to find out more about apprenticeship schemes visit: https:/www.gov.uk/topic/further-education-skills/apprenticeships

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dorian Gonsalves
Dorian Gonsalves
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