Mentoring apprentices within the recruitment industry

In the UK, up to 28 000 apprenticeship vacancies are available online at any one time. Apprenticeships have never been as popular as they are now meaning that businesses like ours have realised that it’s becoming increasingly essential to know how to manage and mentor them effectively. 

At BPS World, we run an apprenticeship programme called “Rising Stars”. We take raw talent and give them an opportunity to enrol on a 12month initial programme where they learn everything about recruitment right from the basics of how to write a job advert to how to communicate with job-seekers asking the appropriate questions. Through this programme they also gain an industry recognised qualification – L2 NVQ in Recruitment.

We want to ensure that we retain our apprentices once they graduate and working within such a fierce market as recruitment, keeping them engaged can be challenging.

I’ve been involved in managing our Rising Stars Programme for over a year now and not long after we started the programme, did I realise that there’s a significant difference between mentoring an apprentice recruiter and a more experienced recruiter. Mainly because for most of these apprentices, this is their first ever full-time job and they’re walking into the unknown; that in itself can be very daunting.

So how do we make sure we are mentoring them as best we can? Firstly, it’s important that we make no assumptions on how much they know and don’t know. Also, we never under-estimate them. I’ve found that since many of our apprentices start their recruitment career knowing absolutely nothing about the industry, they’re even more eager and driven to succeed. They’re quick thinkers with inquisitive minds.

Secondly, always encourage them. As an apprentice mentor, I recognise their efforts and frequently create off-the-cuff incentives such as buying them lunch. Recognition is key and by setting little incentives to achieve small goals will help them along the way to achieve those much bigger career goals.

Finally, allow them to ask questions, lots of them! In my eyes, no question is a silly question when you’re learning something for the first time. This also increases their confidence because they learn so much more, meaning they can become the expert in the room in a short period of time.

For me, mentoring apprentices is incredibly rewarding and I’ve found that actually I’m often the one that goes home having learnt something new about recruitment!

What is your experiences on mentoring apprentices?

For more information please contact Marianne Hatcher on 01628 857340 or marianne.hatcher@bps-world.com