Airband apprenticeship schemes: we’ve joined The 5% Club!

What is The 5% Club?

The 5% Club is an industry-led initiative, focused on driving momentum into the recruitment of apprentices, trainees, graduates and sponsored students.

The movement provides the opportunity for employers like Airband to develop the experience and skills needed to help them become more employable and obtain valuable careers.

What is their goal?

Since its launch in 2013, The 5% Club has worked with more than 500 employers to inspire, educate and retain a growing number of people in “earn and learn” placements.

They’re committed to increasing the number of apprentices and sponsored student opportunities across the UK too. This will equally help to improve employment and career prospects for young people, whilst helping to sustain and protect the economy by developing a skilled workforce.

Why have we joined the scheme?

At Airband, we know that investing in our staff is one of the most important things that we do. The 5% Club’s mission really does ring true with Airband’s core values and its commitment to provide training and opportunities for development.

The scheme goes hand-in-hand with our ethos of innovating and developing expertise; providing our staff with the right resources, training and opportunities to become specialists in their area.

Our commitment to ‘earn and learn’:

As a member of The 5% Club, we’ve made a commitment to help the UK’s growth agenda, by addressing youth unemployment and skills shortages.

We understand the importance of developing people as both a social and business requirement, so we’re committed to playing our part in this.

Ultimately, we pledge to have a minimum of 5% of our workforce enrolled on apprentice, sponsored student and/or graduate development schemes within five years.

As part of our pledge, we’ll measure and report annually on our progress towards this figure, whilst encouraging other employers to participate in this crucial campaign.

How we’re already supporting the vision:

We know real-life experiences and first-hand knowledge are the key to unlocking new career opportunities for young people. So at Airband, we provide our trainees with exactly that.

We currently have seven apprentices on board, with another two joining the team in April.

Our apprentices are on a range of programmes from entry-level, all the way up to degree level within various sectors such as IT, business admin, support desk, customer service and digital marketing to name just a few!

What can I expect from an apprenticeship with Airband?

Our apprentices have the opportunity to learn hands-on at work and through their dedicated training provider, so they can gain the vital knowledge, skills and experience required to progress to the next step of their bright careers, whether that’s at Airband or beyond.

Apprentices earn a slightly reduced wage as they have all of their training costs provided for. They are also given at least 20% of their paid time exclusively to study and learn their course content too.

All of this means that our apprentices have the opportunity to gain a degree, whilst earning enough to support themselves financially without the need to pay for crippling university tuition fees!

We value giving people the chance to develop their skills in the technology sector and understand it’s crucial to maintain a skilled workforce for future generations to come.

Apprentice opportunities & awards:

We value giving people the chance to develop their skills in the telecommunications industry to maintain a skilled workforce for future generations.

We’re delighted to report that 100% of our apprentices who have successfully completed their programme have been offered a permanent position at Airband.

Many of our apprentices have also been given further progression opportunities within the business, allowing them to transfer their vital skills and experience into other roles at Airband.

We know how much of an asset apprentices can be and know that their passion for their role can drive them to work above and beyond what is expected. Some of our apprentices have also been nominated for awards, with one of our apprentices, Hannah Bayliss, winning apprentice of the year in 2020! We simply couldn’t be prouder to support our people during every step of their careers.

Want to find out more?

If you want to learn about the 5% club and their mission, visit their website for more information.

Think you’ve got what it takes to work in tech? If you’re looking for a career in an innovative, fast-paced and friendly environment, Airband could be the place for you.

Take a journey on over to our careers page to find out more and apply today! We hope to see you soon.