THE VALUE OF APPRENTICESHIPS: A ONE-TO-ONE INTERVIEW WITH BIANCA MILLER

The rising number of apprenticeships is great for careers and businesses, says Bianca Miller, who has seen first-hand how well they work.

“When I was leaving school, had I known then what I know now about the importance of building relationships, marketing yourself and getting workplace experience, I definitely would have considered an apprenticeship. I may have been in a much better position - I certainly wouldn’t have a large student loan to repay.”

It says a lot when someone with the business acumen of Bianca Miller - a well-respected public speaker and mentor who runs her own company and came within a stocking’s width of securing a ￡250,000 investment from Lord Sugar on The Apprentice - makes such an admission about her career path.

Her praise for apprenticeships as an attractive option for school leavers - regardless of the industry - comes from a position of in-depth knowledge on the subject too.

Some schools won’t even advise apprenticeships

Bianca says an apprenticeship was “never really given as an option” when she was making her own decisions at 16 and 18, but since forging her own career Bianca has been heavily involved in providing and advising on apprenticeships for both her own business and wider groups of young people.

“If I'm quite honest with you, apprenticeships weren’t even mentioned in my school’s careers advice. It was a very academic school so the expectation was that we all went straight on to university,” she says.

“We were just led to do the UCAS form and apprenticeships were not something that I’d heard about. Even when I speak to school leavers now it seems like this is still the case for a lot of people growing up.”

Why employers love apprentices

Bianca’s path through education took something of a traditional route - from her GCSEs and A-Levels at Sydenham High School in south London to a Business and Management Studies degree at the University of Sussex. However, after she’d gone out on her own into the world of business ownership in 2012 she got first-hand experience of just how rewarding the best apprenticeships can be, to all involved.

“I started The Be Group and was looking at getting employees. It being a small business, apprentices were the most viable option – not just because they are slightly less expensive from a salary perspective but it meant I could find someone who could grow with the business,” she says.

“My first employee was an apprentice, and she was fantastic for me. I learnt a lot about myself as a manager - what it was like having someone who was actively learning all the time and who I could mentor because she was brand new to the world of employment. It was also equally rewarding for her - she got a lot more exciting, hands-on business experience than she otherwise might have at that age.”

Discussing apprenticeships with your parents is a good thing

Last year, 235,000 18-year-olds entered university compared with just 126,000 under-19s starting apprenticeships. So what’s stopping more people opting for a route directly into the jobs world? One of the biggest challenges, according to Bianca, is combating the perception of apprenticeships. But this isn’t where you’d think, with the school leavers themselves - it’s more about their parents and teachers, and those giving them careers advice.

Read the rest of the article here: https://ukcareers.ey.com/schools/insights/the-value-of-apprenticeships-a-one-to-one-interview-with-bianca-miller/