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model and as large employers start to offer well respected apprenticeships then that brand will improve in terms of inclusion.


Ian Dowd: One of the observations from looking at various companies now is they are almost trying to look for the finished product rather than some of the base skills that they can build on, they seem much more impatient to get to the finished product rather than make a contribution to it.


Jane Nicholson: The Civil Service of course has a public duty, so one of our rationales from recruiting apprentices is that we won’t keep necessarily all of our apprentices and that some of the output of that, the apprentices who don’t stay with us are trained and can then benefit the wider society.


Sonya Alexander: Whilst we hope that individuals who join through a development programme, for example, will stay with us when they complete their programme to pursue their career aspirations, we do recognise that not everyone will stay. Where this is the case, I think this could be a virtuous circle, where having developed with us, these potential ambassadors become part of an extended talent community.


Anne Comber: I do have concerns that the Graduate Apprenticeships won’t necessarily add value to young people, it's very dependent on how the employers utilise them. There is a concern that it could be used in a way that doesn’t meet that need, and it is simply cheap labour or just a re-badging. So I am slightly concerned to see how it develops. A key enabler of our new corporate strategy is our commitment to becoming a learning organisation, an organisation that continuously improves, innovates and shares learning and knowledge.


Andrew Ward: I'm struck by the phrase, “when they complete their programme.” We all use that a lot and think in those very traditional terms. I do worry about the focus in HR, L&D and amongst individuals on discrete programmes, as opposed to continuous learning. I am also concerned that we overscript the learning and early career experiences on our student hire schemes and, when they complete those programmes they don’t have the self-learning skills they need and continue to look to us to manage their learning and careers for them.


Jane Nicholson: We aren’t chunked like that, they are all part of our talent agenda so apprentices are managed by the same team that manages the graduates and the same team that manages the talent programmes to our senior exec level. Yes they are separate schemes, however there is a flow expected so, for example, one of the discussions we are having is that we bring in people to do a leadership apprenticeship, who wouldn’t necessarily go into certain types of role, which are traditionally Oxbridge dominated in the civil service.


Sonya Alexander: Ultimately its workforce planning and the destination for individuals being brought into any development programmes is a part of that, filling the skills gaps, the talent pipeline and succession. So it is important to keep an agile vision for what career paths might look like, mindful of the business resourcing needs.


Stuart McPherson: If you paint that picture to the potential apprentice or graduate at the outset of their programme, they are more tuned into how their input affects not just their own teams but the organisation as a whole. They have a deeper realisation of the benefit that they give the business and the impact that it has.


different types of career journeys people can embark on. We are focussing on trying to make every recruitment experience more individual and that’s how, as a mid-size company, we are competing for talent.


Sonya Alexander: The McLaren brand is of course very strong and we have developed our Employee Value Proposition based on what has been fed back as important to our employees, what they enjoy about working for us, and what differentiates us. We are continually improving how we convey this proposition externally and internally, to ensure that the employee experience when someone joins aligns to their perception before joining. There are


WE OVERSCRIPT THE LEARNING AND EARLY CAREER EXPERIENCES ON OUR STUDENT HIRE SCHEMES AND, WHEN THEY COMPLETE THOSE PROGRAMMES THEY DON’T HAVE THE SELF-LEARNING SKILLS THEY NEED AND CONTINUE TO LOOK TO US TO MANAGE THEIR LEARNING AND CAREERS FOR THEM


Mito Mackin: If I can take a Japanese example - my background - they have very clear tracks based on whether you joined after a university education or high school education. From the “apprenticeship track” - or their version of it - they can switch over to the other track of people who came from university education, especially in the larger companies. So although your entry point is different, you can develop their career via the technical “hands on” knowledge, or through the academic university education track, and there are points of jumping onto the other track if they meet the credentials.


Jane Nicholson: Let us remember that not everybody wants, or is capable of progressing. We actually need people who are good and happy in their jobs, and they may not want to progress. It's important to keep people not progressing feeling equally as valued.


MUCH IS SPOKEN ABOUT THE EMPLOYER BRAND, HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT IN RECRUITMENT AND DELIVERING THE NECESSARY SKILLS AND TALENT TO FULFIL THE RESOURCING NEEDS OF THE BUSINESS?


Michael Woodhall: Employer brand and corporate reputation is key, and we constantly work on what makes Ford unique, some characteristics of work, opportunities for development, work/life balance and quality of leadership. But it's very much what you do rather than what you say that really drives attraction and retention.


Charmyn Hall: Agreed and its communicating via the channels that people use, because a very diverse, global talent base is key and emphasise the


SEPTEMBER 2016 thehrdirector 15


four key principles to our EVP and two of them focus on the meaningful and innovative work that people are involved in and how this is continually challenging and interesting to our employees, so the reality of our work is one of the key strengths that we hope comes across as we seek to attract talent into our businesses.


Anne Comber: Agreed, we do need to work harder to ensure we have a diverse workforce representative of the communities we work with. I think one of the challenges is that people don’t really understand what Barnardo’s is, either as a charity or as an employer; and it's an important message that needs to be delivered coherently and consistently.


Andrew Ward: We have put in a lot of effort globally into telling our story, our history, the importance of our work to society and businesses, and the support we give to our communities.


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