Apprenticeships - the time is now
The sector needs to stop waiting for people to "fall into events" - and start taking advantage of the opportunities provided by event apprenticeships.
What's the best way to become an eventprof? If we are to be taken seriously as a sector, the "I just fell into events" line cannot hold.
For Matt Franks, group director of events at DRPG, it's simple. “Apprenticeship programmes are probably the best way to enter our industry,” he says.
However, while Franks is one of the apprenticeship advocates in our sector, not all eventprofs are clear on the benefits of a healthy event apprenticeship programme – or even exactly what an apprenticeship is.
I caught up with some key players in the world of event apprenticeships to find out what’s going on - and what needs to happen for the sector to fully take advantage of the opportunities provided by apprenticeships.
My first port of call was Events Apprenticeships (EA), the UKEVENTS-led initiative that was set up last year to pull together and develop event industry related apprenticeships across the sector. Its target is to get 1,000 people a year into the sector through apprenticeships. The Events Apprenticeships Advisory Board (EAAB) has also been formed and includes employers and wider industry representation.
The aim is to support companies in understanding the value and processes associated with employing apprentices, as well as breaking down barriers to entry and progression in the sector, with a view to attracting a broader pipeline of potential talent from all backgrounds and ages.
“Event apprenticeships are an imperative road into the industry; it's how I got into the industry,” says Richard Waddington, one of the driving forces behind EA, and director of the EAAB. “It also ticks the DEI boxes, as apprenticeships make for a much more diverse industry. It is an industry where people such as myself, with creative, disorganised minds that can't go to university, can excel.”
Waddington agreed to lead EA on UKEVENTS’ behalf, with UKEVENTS putting in some seed money to help get things off the ground. Now Waddington is approaching and talking to the industry, looking to make the apprenticeship scheme cross industry, providing technical skills such as production, lighting and rigging as well as event management.
Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash
Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash
Richard Waddington
Richard Waddington
Photo by Marissa Grootes on Unsplash
Photo by Marissa Grootes on Unsplash
Candice Kass
Candice Kass
“Apprenticeships are not just about entry level jobs,” says Waddington. “They’re about onward learning and career development. From being an entry point apprentice, you could then become an event manager. You could become an event director. You could turn into a board director and each time the government is paying for the third party education of that role - while you're doing your own internal development of that role with that chosen person.
“It’s massive, because a lot of people get promoted into roles without any training. You’re just expected to pick these skills up. Whereas this learning will help these people develop their skills.”
Candice Kass, project lead at EA and conference producer at the British Medical Journal, highlights the challenges.
“When we talked to the industry in the last year, there was a real disconnect between a lot of people saying ‘Well, I can take on an apprentice for six months and then I can let them go’, or ‘I only really need them for busy periods’,” she says. “And we say ‘Well actually, no, that isn't the purpose of an apprentice. It's a long term investment. They’re not interns. If you're employing interns, then employ an apprentice.’ That makes sense, doesn't it?”
Waddington is blunter on the issues facing EA.
“It's a total lack of understanding,” he says. “Some of the bigger companies are already doing it, but very few, and smaller companies aren't. I've had conversations with larger agencies, they've been looking at this, but they haven't put anything in place yet. They need to.”
He points to the exodus of event professionals from the sector over Covid, especially from the event production side.
“We need to find ways of encouraging them back,” he says. “It's not just about school or college. It is about someone who might want a career change, somebody who might think ‘I quite fancy that’. We need to educate them in the benefits of what they need to do and how they need to do it.”
Kass agrees that the education piece is vital.
“People are looking at the industry, seeing how creative and inspiring it is, and saying ‘I would really like to do that’. But they don't know how to get into it. That knowledge is missing. We just need to be able to communicate it to them.”
Another challenge facing EA is the funding question. The government pays for the third party education element – but won't pay for the broader management, communication, awareness, building, education process of running an apprenticeship scheme.
“Our challenge is that we need funding to do our part,” says Waddington. “We're all volunteers, but there are costs. The target is probably £85k to £100k to run this successfully on a year-by-year basis."
The EAAB has launched a crowdfunding initiative and has called for support via donations, with suggested funding models for individuals, as well as small, medium and large business.
“While this is a massive ask in the current financial climate, the industry is crying out for people and there is an enormous untapped talent pool of people we’re not talking to,” says Waddington. “We need to bang the drum louder, have processes in place and attract people to this amazing industry.”
Photo by Jordon Conner on Unsplash
Photo by Jordon Conner on Unsplash
Photo by Alexandre Debiève on Unsplash
Photo by Alexandre Debiève on Unsplash
One company that has seen the benefit of the apprenticeship programme is Alterniq Events and, more specifically, its subsidiary company West End on the Thames, which is a specialised event management service on the River Thames catering for both corporate and wedding hospitality.
“We always liked the idea of recruiting apprentices as it meant we could bring people into the company who can grow alongside it,” explains MD Matthew Adams. “For us, it was about finding the right mixture of attitude and behaviour; we can teach technical skills.”
The company’s first apprentice was Eliza Gilham. “I didn’t want to go the university route to learn event management, so this approach felt right to me,” she says. “I’d had some catering and hospitality experience and this was about widening my range of skills and experience.
“There were so many elements of the apprenticeship that I loved. As well as meeting other apprentices, which enabled me to find out about different facets of the industry, I liked that all the projects I was doing in the role could be used as evidence within my portfolio. And although it took me a while to get used to writing a reflective ‘learning diary’, it turned out to be a really powerful tool that I still use to this day.”
Eliza is now the company’s senior corporate and wedding event planner and is responsible for managing a team of event coordinators at the company, ensuring they deliver events to the high standard they pride themselves upon. She has successfully delivered events for a number of high-profile clients from Amazon to NASA, Pepsi to Coca-Cola, gaining a huge amount of experience and excelling in her role.
As the business bounced back after the pandemic, Matthew Adams described the decision to take on another events apprentice as “a total no-brainer”. Phoebe Cottrell is now into her third month as events coordinator and relishing the role.
“I wanted to get into the industry but was being turned away in favour of candidates who already had experience,” she says. “The apprenticeship was exactly what I’m looking for and I love the flexible approach to learning.
“The workshops are a great part of the programme because they are delivered by genuine practitioners, often just off a flight from an event in some far-flung corner of the world. That makes the whole experience very real.”
Leading events apprenticeship provider Realise helped Alterniq Events recruit its apprentices. In a sign of the increasing interest in apprenticeships, Realise has bolstered its staff this year, hiring Nicola O’Neill as business and development advisor with the aim of helping UK-based companies benefit from employing an events apprentice.
“Often, companies don’t know how to tap into the UK Government funding that pays 95-100 per cent of the training cost for an events apprentice,” she says. “I will help them.”
Indeed, funding for apprenticeships is something the sector is for the most part still trying to get its head round. Introduced in April 2017, the apprenticeship levy is a Government initiative to fund apprenticeships, with a target of 3 million starts in England by 2020.
Employers in England with an annual wage bill of more than £3million pay 0.5 per cent of that wage bill into a closed account that they can only spend on apprenticeships. Taking on an apprentice reduces the amount they have to pay by £15,000 per year, effectively incentivising taking on apprentices for those companies.
Employers that don’t pay the apprenticeship levy pay just 5 per cent towards the cost of training an apprentice, with the government paying the rest of the training up to the funding band maximum.
If you employ fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay 100 per cent of the apprenticeship training costs.
Anna Green
Anna Green
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
Anna Green, managing director of Broadsword, is a member of the EA Advisory Board and a passionate advocate for apprentices.
“Developing the next generation of event professionals is so beneficial to an organisation,” she says. “Apprentices bring fresh ideas and perspectives, they are keen to learn and develop new skills which helps increase productivity to the business as a whole.
“The events industry is constantly growing and evolving and offering apprenticeships is a great way to develop a skilled workforce that is trained to meet the specific needs of your business. By investing in the development of apprentices, they will be more likely to remain in your business for the long term.
“Not only is taking on an apprentice a cost effective option for recruitment, there are also various financial incentives and support packages to help SMEs take on apprentices as well as support and guidance from the National Apprenticeship Service and local training providers. I would encourage everyone to consider taking on an apprentice. They bring a positive energy to the workplace that is contagious!”
Matt Franks, group director of events at DRPG, has seen the positive impact of apprentice programmes up close.
“Event apprenticeship programmes are a gateway to the next gen talent in our industry. In an industry that is very practical, apprenticeships offer a platform that covers education whilst focusing on hands on learning.
“We’ve had so many successes through this approach - in fact, some of our senior team members joined us on apprenticeship programmes. It’s a partnership, you invest in each other.
“As a business we’re investing by sharing our knowledge, experience, and time to help them grow personally and professionally. As an apprentice they are investing by placing their career development in our hands, we learn from their challenge, questioning and the fresh ideas and generational differences that they bring.
“I’m a huge advocate of apprenticeship programmes and believe it’s probably the best way to enter our industry”.
Built with Shorthand