How Exel Technology Group is Building its Future Workforce Through IT Apprenticeships

Exel Technology Group has been operating for 30 years, providing technology and support to the taxi industry. Throughout that time, people have remained central to how the business thinks about growth.

“Come to work and build a career for yourself. Don’t come in and do a job,” is a message COO Scott Hudson regularly shares across the organisation.

“Working takes up a lot of hours in our life not to enjoy what we do,” he says.

That philosophy has helped shape Exel’s approach to apprenticeships. Rather than focusing solely on what somebody can already do, the business looks at attitude, curiosity and what that person could become with the right opportunity and support.

RECRUITING FOR POTENTIAL

For Head of Support Jonathan Harris, giving people that first opportunity is particularly important.

Jonathan entered technology himself at 23 without previous experience in the sector, and that continues to influence how he thinks about recruitment:

“If you apply for a job in technology, the standard answer you get from most places is you need two years’ experience,

“How are you getting that two years’ experience if no one will give you the experience?”

Jonathan Harris, Head of Support, Exel Technology Group

Experience matters, but Jonathan believes employers can gain just as much from looking at attitude and enthusiasm.

“If you give people a chance, you will get the benefits from that.”

Scott takes an equally straightforward view.

“Giving people an opportunity when they don’t have much experience? It’s almost a daft question to me,” he says.

“Why wouldn’t you give people an opportunity?”

That approach is particularly important when Exel recruits people early in their careers.

Jonathan says the business has always looked for “the person, the attitude” and sees younger talent as an opportunity to bring new perspectives into the organisation while developing people who can grow alongside it.

“You’re looking at the future person that you’re going to be taking on,” he says. “You’re taking on someone who you can take in early in their career, who normally matches your values as well and then grows with you as the business grows.”

BUILDING CAREERS, NOT JUST FILLING JOBS

Support Manager Lizzie Hill describes Exel’s approach in similarly long-term terms.

“We’re not just looking for people to do the job that the apprentices have been taken on to do,” she says. “We’re looking to build a talent pool for the wider business and the whole of the industry.”

That means considering where somebody could progress in future, rather than assessing them only against the role Exel needs to fill today.

“It’s not just what they can do now, it’s what these guys are going to be able to do for us in 10 years, 15 years’ time.”

For Lizzie, the distinction is simple:

“It’s building careers rather than just putting people in jobs.”

Lizzie Hill, Support Manager, Exel Technology Group

As Exel’s technology needs continue to evolve, that longer-term approach gives the business an opportunity to develop people with interests and capabilities that could become increasingly valuable in future.

GIVING PEOPLE THE SPACE TO DEVELOP

Recruiting for potential also means recognising that people need time and support to develop.

For Jonathan, one of the most important things Exel can give an apprentice is simply that: time.

“We know that it’s going to take time for them to learn,” he says.

But Exel also wants apprentices to have the freedom to make decisions and build confidence through experience.

“We want them to have the freedom to make decisions and to sometimes learn through doing.”

Jonathan compares it to learning to ride a bike.

“You take the stabilisers off and you let them go. You’re there at the side of them to catch them.”

That balance between support and responsibility is something Exel has refined as it has brought more apprentices into the team.

And the business has found that the development can happen faster than it initially expected.

Jonathan says Exel would traditionally expect a new recruit to take around six to twelve months to become proficient. Initially, the team assumed an apprentice might take longer because part of their time would be dedicated to learning.

“Actually, the opposite,” he says.

In some cases, Exel was already seeing signs within around three months that apprentices were becoming valuable members of the team, with the learning they received through their programme helping them develop skills they could apply in the workplace.

Scott is careful not to judge the return simply against the cost of recruiting somebody with more experience.

For him, value comes when an apprentice reaches the point where they can independently support customers, manage queries and contribute effectively within the wider team.

“Our return on investment only starts when we have individuals skilled enough to be able to look after the customer requirements,” he says.

“It’s not all about the pounds and pence that you can make from customers. It’s about how we can work more efficiently internally.”

FRESH THINKING FOR AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS

The impact Exel has seen is not limited to additional capacity.

Scott, Jonathan and Lizzie all point to the different perspectives apprentices can bring.

Scott repeatedly comes back to three qualities: energy, curiosity and fresh thinking.

“When you bring the apprentices through and they don’t have that experience and they don’t know what the status quo is, it encourages that curiosity.” 

Scott Hudson, COO, Exel Technology Group

For an established business, that willingness to question existing ways of working can be valuable.

“The one thing that’s missing when you follow a process too rigidly is that fresh thinking and that new perspective,” Scott explains.

Jonathan sees something similar in the technology itself.

Many younger recruits have grown up using technologies that established professionals have had to learn later in their careers.

“They ask questions that you perhaps wouldn’t even think to ask,” he says.

For him, different experiences within the team can lead to better conversations and, ultimately, better solutions.

Lizzie says the experience has even influenced how she thinks about recruitment beyond apprenticeships.

“We’re looking for what they’re wanting to grow into,” she says.

“We’ve actually changed the way we would recruit outside of apprenticeships because of this.”

The question is increasingly not just what somebody can do today, but where they could be in five years.

BUILDING THE RIGHT PARTNERSHIP

As apprenticeships have become more established within Exel’s talent strategy, its relationship with Baltic Apprenticeships has developed alongside it.

Jonathan says he initially expected something closer to a traditional supplier relationship.

“What we’ve experienced is… it’s more of a partnership,” he says. “We were looking for someone we could partner with, and that’s what we found.”

For Lizzie, that includes understanding what Exel is trying to build rather than simply filling an immediate vacancy.

“I think they’ve really taken on board the fact that we’re looking to build that talent pool,” she says.

Scott believes understanding Exel’s culture is equally important

“What Baltic do is ensure that the individuals that they present us with at interview stage have the right attitude,

“They’ve got the personality that we’re looking for, they’ve got the wherewithal to challenge in a positive manner within the business.”

Scott Hudson, COO, Exel Technology Group

That gives Exel greater confidence that the people walking through the door are not simply eligible for an apprenticeship, but have the potential to build a career within the organisation.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

For Exel, apprenticeships are no longer simply another recruitment route.

They have become part of how the business thinks about its future workforce.

Scott would ultimately like to see a significant proportion of Exel’s people having originally entered the organisation through an apprenticeship.

“I would love to, in a number of years’ time, get to the point of having a large percentage of our people have actually come through a Baltic-introduced apprenticeship within our organisation,” he says.

It is an ambition built around sustainable growth, developing capability internally and creating opportunities for people who may not arrive with years of experience behind them.

And for employers still questioning whether taking that chance is worthwhile, Scott’s response remains the simplest:

“Why wouldn’t you give people an opportunity?”