PARENTS in Warwickshire are being urged to encourage teenagers leaving school or college to look at the hundreds of apprenticeship vacancies available across the county.
There are over 500 vacancies across the Coventry and Warwickshire area as employers add staff to their workforce to re-build their businesses post-pandemic.
Nearly 100 have pledged to be ‘disability confident’, a scheme to support employers to use the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.
School and college leavers can apply now to search for an apprenticeship in sectors ranging from digital to dentistry and logistics to manufacturing.
Chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Sarah Windrum, said the volume of applications for apprenticeships is quite low at the moment in Coventry and Warwickshire.
She said: “We want to encourage parents to promote the apprenticeship opportunities which are available for their teenage children because businesses need young people right now.
“Employers from a wide range of industries are looking to recruit, and apprenticeships are a fantastic route into diverse and highly-skilled sectors which perhaps may not have been considered before Covid-19 or it was more difficult to access them.
“Since there has only been virtual work experience for the last 15 months, there are fewer preconceived ideas about the world of work and the information on the National Careers Service website gives inspiration to young people who maybe unsure of their next step after completing their education at school or college.
“New vacancies are being posted all the time as more and more businesses are re-opening or winning new orders and needing new staff of all ages and experience, so they are recruiting apprentices throughout the year instead of during the traditional month of September in pre-Covid times.
“It is great to see such a positive uplift because this is the largest number of vacancies for apprentices we have seen in Coventry and Warwickshire since Covid-19 began which reflects the resilience of the local economy.”
