Due to a lack of digital skills across multiple industries and sectors, businesses are finding it harder and harder to recruit skilled professionals.
Flair HR found that “An overwhelming 81% of recruiters find it increasingly challenging to attract top talent, with 33% considering it very challenging.” Despite prevalent recruitment issues, there is a backlog of young people looking to start their careers in the IT world, but there aren’t enough opportunities for this to happen.
There is a myth that apprentices are only useful for making tea and coffee or running errands, but this is not true. Apprentices offer a cost-effective and enriching recruitment option that has an immediate business impact, while equally setting the foundations for future business success.
If your IT team is struggling to keep up with tickets and requests or you are looking to expand your capabilities and skillset across your team, then an apprentice would be the perfect option for you. Hiring an apprentice is not about having an extra pair of hands; it’s about infusing your team with new life and enhancing your technical support services from the get-go.
In this blog, we will explore how an apprentice could benefit your business in just the first 3 months. The initial 3 months are incredibly important, laying down the foundation for the apprentice’s role and contributions.
Level 3 IT Support Technician Apprenticeship
Our IT programme is designed to build the foundation for an apprentice’s career, our course covers both soft skills and technical skills through a mix of expert training focussed on core competencies and objectives, where an apprentice is taught how to effectively tackle real-world IT challenges within their role.
Customer Service Skills
The ability to understand verbal and non-verbal communication and cues, explain concepts conversationally, and avoid jargon is a must-have for an IT professional. Soft skills are a vital part of working as an IT professional and are something that can often be overlooked during the recruitment process, but an IT professional must possess excellent customer service skills.
IT professionals need to understand their audience and communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Our Level 3 IT Support Technician programme teaches apprentices how to know and understand their audience and communicate effectively.
We ensure learners can understand silent indicators of communication, such as body language and tone of voice, to ensure our learners can gauge when their client understands. This will be taught through course content, live discussions within their cohorts and real-life experience within your business.
Additionally, to ensure our learners have great customer service skills, during the first 3 months, our training places a strong emphasis on cultural awareness and diversity. Our apprentices learn to appreciate and cater to a diverse range of backgrounds and needs of users, ensuring that solutions are not only technically effective but culturally sensitive.
Technical IT Skills
Technical skills are crucial for IT Support Technicians as they enable efficient diagnosis and resolution of technical issues, implementation of IT solutions, and staying up to date with technological advancements. All our apprentices will start their course with an interest in technology, but many lack technical experience.
Within the first 3 months of their apprenticeship, we ensure our IT Support apprentices have a strong foundation of knowledge and skill, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to their roles from an early stage. Being introduced to a range of technical skills, apprentices can better understand their job responsibilities, build confidence, and start applying their knowledge in real-world scenarios sooner.
We ensure apprentices learn the basics of problem-solving, covering the principles of root cause problem-solving and fault diagnostics. Apprentices will come out of these courses ready to help man your helpdesk, actively working on tickets and requests and providing high-quality customer service. Gaining real-world experience, paired with their apprenticeship training will help them become a valuable and effective technician within your team.
The Importance of Skill-Based Hiring
In recent years, worldwide workforce changes have created a shift in hiring methods across organisations. Previously, businesses would primarily focus on an individual’s educational background and career history, but this discredits new experience, self-study and self-taught skills, while praising potentially outdated experience.
Traditional methods are slowly losing traction and being replaced by skill-based hiring. Skill-based hiring is a recruitment approach that assesses candidates based on their specific skills, competencies, and abilities rather than focusing on traditional qualifications, such as degrees or years of experience.
Employers identify the specific skills and traits required for the role, and this approach is designed to locate better-fitting candidates for an individual role. This way recruiters can focus on the skills that a candidate possesses that will be beneficial with a specific role. Within the IT sector, skill-based hiring is transforming recruitment processes by prioritising practical abilities and skills over academic qualifications.
A skill-based hiring approach is ideal for IT roles as it ensures candidates possess up-to-date technical competencies that directly align with job requirements focusing on performance and results. In particular, IT Support apprenticeships, which focus on practical skills development and real-world experience, are excellent ways to build the next generation of IT professionals to grow and thrive in an ever-changing landscape.
Why Choose Baltic Apprenticeships?
Investing in an apprentice goes beyond nurturing a new talent; it’s about boosting your team’s capabilities and service quality both in the short and long term.
Our Level 3 IT Support programme stands out for its comprehensive approach to training IT Support professionals. Currently, our 2024 Higher Achievement rate for Level 3 IT Support Technicians sits at 70% 🎉 (April 2024)
Through a blend of technical and soft skill development, our apprentices are well-equipped to meet the demands of the modern IT landscape. We prioritise practical experience and rigorous training in customer service, technical skills, and policies and procedures, to ensure our apprentices are ready to face current challenges and future advancements in technology.
Learn more about how you can strengthen your team with our IT Support programme today!