Getting your first job is one of the most important steps you take in life, and also one of the most difficult. What with the increasing costs of university and the ever competitive job market, leaving school can be tough.

Our new apprenticeship scheme is for 16-18 year olds who are looking to kick-start their IT careers.

Regular intake

In conjunction with the National IT Partnership (NiTP), and New College Nottingham, we have taken on seven new apprentices since March, and are planning to continue recruiting throughout the year. The apprentices will have a mix of on the job learning combined with classroom time at college to complete the course.

Official figures tell us how more than 1.3 million 16-18 year olds are currently in education, training or employment in England, the highest figure in over a decade. Schemes like this improve the choices available to school leavers who may be daunted by the expense of university, but are still keen to get on that all important first rung of the career ladder.

Experience

Working closely with us on this is the NiTP, who are the largest provider of IT apprenticeships in the country. Alongside the technical skills our apprentices will learn, they will also learn about customer service, teamwork and communication as they deal with customer queries with our support team, skills which can, of course, be transferred to future roles.

As we all know, entering the world of work is an experience in itself; we all have our own stories about our first days and how strange it all was. Life experience like this is invaluable to personal development as well as professional.