“Here at Platts, we believe that apprenticeships are a great way to help young people get their career off to a great start- gaining knowledge, experience and qualifications, whilst working. Over recent years, Platts have offered apprenticeships to those within our Production, Garage, and Office Teams, meaning that there can be several young people learning new skills across the company at any one time.

Apprenticeships mean that employees can attend college, or work towards a qualification whilst working on the job- which can be greatly beneficial to the individual- as well as the employer, who develops staff with up to date skills and industry knowledge.

Apprentice of the Year Awards… 

We’re so pleased to have had Apprentices who’ve we’ve nominated for the Apprentice of the Year Award with our local Chamber of Commerce, West Cheshire and North Wales – and in 2019, we celebrated with Ethan McDermott who was recognised as a finalist. Ethan’s now completed his apprenticeship and is now a fully qualified Welder and Fabricator at Platts Commercial Services.

Rhian Vernon – Accounts Assistant and Business Administration Apprentice

“When I was in school, I knew I wanted to choose an apprenticeship over university as I prefer learning on the job as it allows me to gain job experience and qualifications. However, when Covid happened in 2020, I was in my last year of sixth form, and I ended up leaving school in March. The next few months I found quite difficult searching for jobs and apprentices in the sector I wanted since covid affected a lot of businesses. It wasn’t until April 2021 I was able to secure a job at WeMindTheGap.

WeMindTheGap allows young people to get job experience by giving them placements at different companies. Each placement lasts four weeks and they do a total of five placements over the six-month contract. While I was working there, I gained a lot of job experience from the placements, and I was able to witness different work styles and sectors. This helped me have an idea of what type of job I wanted.

One of my placements was at Platts Agriculture Ltd and I was working with the accounts team. I really enjoyed working at Platts and I loved the team here, it was my favourite placement by far. At the end of my placement, Platts offered me a job as an Apprentice Accounts Assistant which I immediately accepted. I was very lucky and grateful for this offer as I would have probably struggled finding a job similar to it.

I am now working full time in the accounts department, and I am also working towards a Business Administration course in Coleg Cambria. This course is helping me learn more about the business environment and providing me more information and guidance on how to complete certain tasks such as how to communicate professional during a phone call. I am able to complete college work within working hours as well as complete my daily tasks such as completing sales invoices, cheques, bank receipts, post, and taking payments on the phone. Whenever I get stuck or have a question, my colleague or manager is always there to help me through it and solve any issues that might occur. I’m feel more comfortable and confident every day and I’ve learnt quite a lot within the few months I’ve been here.

I believe apprenticeships are a good way to learn because you’ll receive encouragement and support from your team. Apprentices have access to training while they are working along with an assessor/mentor who helps them improve and sharpen their skills. They will also receive resources to help complete their studying and since they work alongside people who have experience in the role, they’ll be able to ask them questions regarding the course.”

Experienced Perspective

Ian Hall – Financial Director at Platts describes apprenticeships as being a great way to kick-start youth employment within the community, which results in the direct benefits of delivering on-the-job training and development. Coupled with the cost effectiveness of employing apprentices as opposed to already skilled staff and having access to government apprenticeship grants available makes apprenticeships affordable to growing firms.

“Companies can be confident that employees on apprenticeship programmes are learning modern techniques within the trade, enabling them to use the skills within the work place and educating existing employees with the up-to-date knowledge and new technology. Apprenticeships also provide an opportunity to train customised skill sets- making apprentices flexible to the often uniquely complex needs of an individual business. On a whole, apprenticeships are a ‘win-win’ for both the employer and apprentice and offer a great opportunity to improve business needs.”