We've just offered an apprentice contract to a local young person, This will be the 3rd apprentice employed by Tad Web Solutions with the following 2 going as follows:
- Apprentice 1, good for a week or so, then rarely turned up and left when they didn't get paid for their no shows
- Apprentice 2, Peter Calvert, bright, keen, great attitude, now been working at Tad Towers as a "proper employee" for over 9 months
So what's in store for number 3?
Well we can guarantee a proper, level 3 training course, on the job training, some interesting work to do and some boring work to do, a review after 3 months to see if we and they are happy, a review after 6 months with a wage review as part of that, and if they're good and we continue to grow there will be a job at the end of it.
So why the question good or bad?
From our point of view we took out a lot of time to arrange interviews to suit the 5 shortlisted applicants but only 2 showed up, which is a real pain and disruption for a micro-business like ours when you understand that our time is what makes money and we did also take time to read CVs and draft interview questions that were for all candidates but also specific questions for each candidate based upon their experience and interests.
On the plus side there is funding we can tap into so that the apprentice's wages are covered. Makes them sound free but we have spent around £2k this week on hardware and software licenses so they have everything they need plus Peter and myself will be taking time out of productive work to help them and teach them as we go along.
On the plus side we may get another person who starts contributing to the business in 6 months time and in a year or so becomes an important part in growing the business.
So from the apprentice point of view is it good or bad?
On the downside they will be on apprentice minimum wage, which to be frank, is a pittance - but we can't afford to pay proper wages to someone who is not fully contributing to the commercial side of the business. There is also the case that there is much evidence that many companies use apprentices as cheap labour with no intention of providing future employment - but that's not the case here.
On the plus side, there is some kind of wage, the opportunity to gain a good qualification, the opportunity to learn new skills and gain experience, and in many cases the opportunity for a job at the end of it.
So I have pangs of guilt about the wage we'll be paying in the early days but then I am expecting to have someone longer term who we provide with a good job that is reasonably paid.
It gives a very small company like ours an opportunity to provide a post for a young local person who wants to get into the digital creative sector that we simply couldn't do without the apprentice programme. We hope to expand and hope we have found the right person to be part of that. We intend to pay more than the minimum wage in 6 months when some real work is being done for clients and we hope to offer a real job at the end of a year or so.
So in a year there'll probably 2 members of staff who get paid more than me!!
