Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision
Using Labour Market Intelligence
Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
Introduction
It is now more than a year since the Government took office with a manifesto pledge to create
3 million new apprenticeships by 2020. For some providers, such as colleges, this means that
there are targets to be hit. For others, such as Independent Training Providers, there are no
targets but plenty of opportunities.
Whether driven by the need to hit targets, or to take advantage of opportunities, many providers
will readily admit that their current approach to engaging employers for apprenticeships resembles
something of an ad hoc or even scattergun approach – either calling through a list of local firms, or
basing provision on national apprenticeship trends. However, for any provider that is serious about
expanding their apprenticeship provision, wouldn’t a more rigorous and scientific method be
preferable to the current approach? The answer to that must surely be yes, but the question is how?
The key to finding successful solutions often begins by asking some good, pointed questions, and
we believe that the key to finding a more methodical approach to increasing apprenticeships should
start in the same way. The basic questions that any provider should be asking, and that any plausible
solutions should be answering, are as follows:
1. What are the opportunities for us to grow within the industries and employers we are already working with?
2. Which new industries and employers can we target in our area?
3. Are there opportunities to offer our apprenticeships in other regions?
4. How can we better identify who is employing at the moment?
5. How can we articulate and market the value of our apprenticeships to businesses and students?
The first three questions are basically strategic in nature, relating to how a provider can plan their
employer engagement over the long-term by identifying trends in their local economy. The fourth
question is more of a tactical question, relating to how providers can better identify potential leads here
and now. The final question relates to how providers can articulate the value of their apprenticeships,
and how this can be used in marketing them to both employers and potential apprentices.
This short report attempts to offer both insight and practical solutions to these questions. Pages
3 and 4 deal with the long-term strategic questions; page 5 then looks at the more tactical issues;
and on page 6, we focus on how providers can articulate the value of their apprenticeships in their
marketing. We hope that you’ll find it both thought-provoking and useful, as you seek to increase
your apprenticeship provision and grow your business.
About Emsi
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Economic Modelling Specialists International (Emsi) are working with nearly 100 education
providers across the country. We provide them with unparalleled, granular labour market data,
giving them a much fuller understanding of the local and regional economy they serve, and
helping them to better align their business with the needs of both learners and employers.
The first three questions mentioned on page
two are, as we said, basically strategic in
nature. By which we mean that they relate to
the kind of planning that is essential to grow a
business over the long-term, as opposed to the
kind of quick wins that companies often seek
in order to hit immediate targets. Successfully
answering these questions depends on the ability
to identify opportunities. How can we identify
new opportunities in industries we are already
working with? How can we identify which new
industries to target? How can we identify which
areas of the country we could target with existing
apprenticeships? We believe that the answer to all
these questions can be found in the use of granular
Labour Market Intelligence (LMI), with data being
used to identify not only which industries are
growing, but also the occupational demand and
opportunities that exists within them.
An Example
Let’s look an example of how a provider might use data to work through these questions. Imagine
a provider that offers apprenticeships in construction-related occupations. How do they go about
establishing if there is any scope to increase their provision in this area? First and foremost, they
need to establish whether construction looks set to grow over the next few years, and by delving
into the data for their local and regional economy, they find that the industry is set to grow by 3%
over the next five years.
What opportunities does this give them? In the first instance, it gives them the opportunity to reach
out to the employers they are already partnering with in construction apprenticeships, making the
case that they should be looking to increase apprentice numbers in anticipation of greater demand.
Secondly, it opens up the possibility for dialogue with construction firms that they are not currently
working with.
Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
Strategic
But there is more. The fact that the construction industry is set to grow means that it is not just
demand for “building” jobs which will increase. For example, two of the Top 10 highest employing
occupations within the construction sector are Production managers and directors in construction,
and Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks. So if construction is set to grow, these types
of occupations will also likely grow. The provider therefore uses the data to identify which jobs are
set to grow and – armed with this intelligence – engages both the employers that they are currently
working with, and those that they do not yet have a relationship with.
Having explored the possibilities of growth within a sector that they are already working with, the
provider turns their attention to potential new sectors. How do they go about establishing which
new sectors may be worth targeting? The answer is essentially the same as the one given above:
they again use granular data to identify which sectors are set to grow, and which occupations within
these industries are forecast to increase. Having established this, the provider is then able to identify
the sectors and occupations that they want to offer apprenticeships in, which in turn enables them
to then approach employers in these sectors, backed up by hard data forecasting growth.
Finally, the provider turns their attention to possibilities for growth outside their region. Looking
once again at construction, they delve into the data – this time for local economies outside
their area – and identify other areas of the country where construction looks set to grow in the
coming years. Making this identification enables them to see where there might be opportunities
for apprenticeships in construction in other regions, and so they are given a focus for potential
opportunities to grow their business in other parts of the country.
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Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
Solutions
In the example above, the ability of the provider to identify opportunities hinges on their having access
to data which is highly granular, by which we mean data that can drill right down to the most specific
levels of industries and occupations (Standard Industry and Occupation Classifications Level 4), at the
most local level (down to county/unitary authority level, and even local authority level). In addition, it
also presupposes having access to data which can identify the occupational make up of each industry.
The good news is that we offer this type of data through a couple of solutions. The first is our online
data tool, Analyst. Tapping into our unique collection of multiple data sources, and designed for ease
of use, Analyst gives instant access to key local information on jobs and skills across industries and
occupations, and so can give you a real understanding of the structural trends and future direction of
your local economy, right the way down to the most specific levels. With its ability to identify not only
which industries are likely to grow, but also which occupations within these industries are set to see
growth, for any local or regional area of the country, Analyst is an elegant solution for any provider that
wishes to take a more strategic and scientific approach to growing their apprenticeship provision.
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In addition to Analyst, we also offer an
expert Apprenticeship Consultancy Report. This
presentation-ready document not only offers
providers an analysis of their local labour
market, but also insight into how well they
are positioned to meet the needs of that
economy. In addition to this, the report gives
recommendations for other industries and
occupations that the provider could consider
creating apprenticeships in. With its market
insight and expert analysis, the Apprenticeship
Consultancy Report is therefore a powerful tool for
providers to go out and engage employers about
creating new apprenticeships.
Analyst
The questions and solutions mentioned in the previous section are vitally important in terms of
creating a holistic, long-term approach to apprenticeship provision. But the next question we posed
in the introduction – How can we better identify who is employing at the moment? – addresses what
might be called a more tactical issue.
Knowing who is employing in the region right now is invaluable in terms of knowing which employers
might be ripe for targeting for apprenticeships. Every provider will no doubt have its own methods of
doing this, with one of the more obvious ways being to trawl through job postings sites to find out who
is employing. However, this is not without problems, not least of which is that it is a somewhat arduous
and ongoing task. Is there a way to make this process simpler, quicker and with better returns?
Solution
We have recently introduced a tool which we believe is of great value in helping providers identify
employers who are employing in their region. Jobfeed is a job aggregations site, which gives an
overview of new job vacancies appearing on the Internet. However, in addition to this basic idea,
it has a number of features which are of great benefit to providers seeking new and better ways of
getting tactical about their apprenticeships. Here are just some of them:
• J obfeed allows users to search for any occupation in the country using a number of different
parameters including region, education level, organization, full or part-time, and who has
advertised the job (i.e. an employer or an intermediary)
• Searches can be made for timeframes going back as far as five years
•One of the most useful features of the tool is that searches can be saved and an automated email
update set up to be sent out on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This is a huge timesaver, since
users can set their parameters and then leave the tool to update them regularly, rather than
having to do regular searches
•Another hugely useful function is that users can click in to see the complete text of all job adverts.
For those researching employers for potential apprenticeships, this has huge potential since it
enables them to find out the skills requirements of each occupation they are looking at
Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
Tactical
•The information gleaned from the tool can be exported to Excel, making data collation and
sharing a simple task
Putting all this together, what we have is a tool that enables providers to identify the businesses that
are currently employing, and the businesses that have historically been employing, and which does
so in a far quicker and simpler way than spending hours trawling through job sites.
Another point to note is that the tool can be
seen as a means to compete directly with the
recruitment market. JobFeed is already being
used by hundreds of recruitment agencies
throughout the country, who use it to check
for vacancies which they can then match their
candidates to. Apprenticeship providers can
therefore use the tool to steal a march on those
recruitment agencies by approaching the same
employers with a direct and much cheaper
alternative to hiring someone that is fully
qualified – in other words, apprenticeships!
Stated simply, Jobfeed is a massive timesaver,
and of huge value to providers looking for a
tactical tool to identify employers for engagement
regarding apprenticeships. For a look at how it
works, we have produced a short video which
you can find at https://vimeo.com/166917274.
Jobfeed
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Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
Marketing
So far we have looked at strategy and tactics. However, whilst being able to identify which employers
to target is clearly a step in the right direction, both in the long and the short term, persuading them
to offer places and getting apprentices to fill those places is another thing entirely. Every provider
will have their own ways and means of achieving this, yet one of the most powerful methods
of marketing – articulating the value of the product – has not been so easy to establish around
apprenticeships. Yet, imagine if providers had a way of articulating the value of their apprenticeships,
both to businesses and young people. Wouldn’t this be a powerful tool for a provider looking to grow
their apprenticeship provision?
Solution
Since 2,000, Emsi has been conducting Economic Impact Studies aimed at helping education providers
articulate both the direct monetary impact they have on their local economy, and the long-term
benefits they bring to a variety of stakeholders, including students and taxpayers. More recently, we
have begun including a separate figure for apprenticeships, whereby we are able to clearly articulate
the value of the provider’s apprenticeships to both businesses and apprentices.
What this means is that businesses can know what type of return they can expect from taking
on an apprentice, whilst those who are considering doing an apprenticeship can see the return they
can expect from doing one. This gives great opportunities for providers to engage with young people
and their parents, as well as businesses, by highlighting the value of the provider’s apprenticeships.
For instance, here is one way a provider might choose to market their apprenticeships to young
people using the figure from an Economic Impact Study:
Looking for a debt-free
alternative to university?
Apprentices at JC Training will
earn, on average, more than
twice as much over their lifetime
than if they had gone straight
into a job. And it’s all debt-free.
jc_training.co.uk/apprenticeships
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Together with the strategic and tactical solutions we have suggested in the earlier parts, this
kind of message could well prove to be a powerful tool for any provider looking to grow their
apprenticeship provision.
Increasing Your Apprenticeship Provision Using Labour Market Intelligence
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To find out more about how our solutions can help you
grow your apprenticeship offer, contact us at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07720 641 651
Web: www.economicmodelling.co.uk
Blog: www.economicmodelling.co.uk/blog
Twitter: @EMSI_UK