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Opportunity

The Apprenticeship Podcast is for anyone involved in recruiting and developing people, HR Directors, L & D, Heads of Talent, and Operational Directors in enterprise, SME companies and charities.

We want to share the important message about how apprenticeships can transform your business using government funding in a creative way. You’re tired of the challenges of talent acquisition and want to upskill for the changing work environment. We want to show you that working with apprenticeships is a high value way to develop your people for better workforce planning and profitability. We will share how to develop human potential by creating a behavioural change that allows you to develop and celebrate diversity. Hosted by Kate Temple-Brown and Michaela Reaney, founders of The Opportunity Group.

You’ll learn the how to drive huge opportunity for your business using apprenticeships to change lives and maximise profit.

Our latest podcast

How to Maximise Your Apprenticeship Training Provider

Episode 24

with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

In this episode, we’re talking about how to select and manage  a training provider. We’re going to guide you through our top tips and key steps to consider when deciding which apprenticeship provider to choose. We’ll also share with you some examples where a flexible approach to apprenticeship has worked really well, so we can help you build a good, long-lasting relationship with your training provider.  

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Episode 00

Welcome to Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast!

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast is the right stop for those in the business world eager to find out more about apprenticeships and the positive effects of using development to unlock human potential.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 001 - What is an Apprenticeship? - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 01

What is an apprenticeship

When you think of the word ‘apprenticeship’, you’re probably imagining a vocation that school leavers do as an alternative to university. Today we’ll be debunking the old fashioned perception of an apprenticeship, and talk about the different ways apprenticeships can create a huge impact when integrated into a business growth plan.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 002 - How to Create an Apprenticeship Strategy - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 02

How to Create an Apprenticeship Strategy

Before you begin an apprenticeship programme, you need to have a strategy in place. The strategy would help your organisation and your training provider navigate through the best practices for achieving your business goals. In this episode, we’ll share a few tips on how to create an apprenticeship strategy using your organisation’s current situation and your business goals.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 003 - Changing the Perception of Apprenticeships - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 03

Changing the Perception of Apprenticeships

Many organisations don’t even consider apprenticeship programmes as an option simply because they don’t understand what it’s all about. So in today’s episode, we’ll be changing the perception of apprenticeships and highlighting the benefits of adding this programme to your business practice.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 004 - What are the Pitfalls of Apprenticeships? - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 04

What Are the Pitfalls of Apprenticeship

While in an apprenticeship programme, there are a few things employers might do that can hinder the programme from having the desired impact on their organisation. Today we’ll be discussing some of these pitfalls of apprenticeships and the best measures you can take to avoid them. You’ll understand that each person involved in the programme has a part to play for it to be successful.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 005 - How to Support Social Mobility through Apprenticeships - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 05

How to Support Social Mobility with Apprenticeships

If you want your employees to gain the confidence and knowledge they need to perform their roles properly, you need to assist as an employer by providing the necessary training to develop their skills. Today, we’ll be covering the different ways you can improve your social mobility strategy with the use of apprenticeship programmes.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 006 - The Benefits of Apprenticeships- with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 06

The Benefits of Apprenticeships

Today we’ll be talking about some of the benefits of implementing and creating strategies around apprenticeships. We’ll be sharing with you some real life examples of organisations that benefited from apprenticeship programmes and have seen it as a true investment to their business growth.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 007 - Understanding the Apprenticeship Levy - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 07

Understanding the Apprenticeship Levy

Now that you have an idea of what apprenticeship is all about, you might be wondering how to handle the costs of enrolling your employees onto a programme. Today, we will share with you the essential things you need to know about Apprenticeship Levy and how to maximise funding to improve benefits and hasten your return on investment.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 008 - Why Apprenticeships are not just for School Leavers - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 08

Why Apprenticeships are not just for School Leavers

From our experience with some organizations, we realized that a lot of them missed the point about apprenticeships. There are different misconceptions about apprenticeship opportunities and this is why employers should put measures in place for their employees to understand what it’s really about. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about the benefits of apprenticeships by sharing with you the reasons why it’s not just for school leavers, but for everyone willing to learn.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 009 - Which Companies have had Success with Apprenticeships - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 09

Which Companies have had Success with Apprenticeships

If you want your organisation to have a successful apprenticeship programme, you need to tailor it to your training needs and business goals. Today we’ll be giving examples of some companies that adopted apprenticeship programmes around their needs, and how they turned out to be a major success. We’ll also talk about what employers can do to get involved and lead the programme with confidence.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 010 - The Benefit of Apprenticeship Duration of Minimum 12 Months + 1 Day - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 10

The Benefit of an Apprenticeship Duration of a Minimum 12 Months +1 Day

An apprenticeship is a worthwhile investment for organisations of any size or sector. With benefits including; increased employee satisfaction to improved retention rates, they are a proven way to help people develop their careers while creating results for the business.  In today’s episode, we’ll be sharing with you the benefits of an apprenticeship being a minimum of a year-long programme.  

 

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 011 - Failures: What We Have Learned from Them - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 11

Failures: What we have learned from them

As true advocates for lifelong learning, we can’t just share all the good stories and the successes we’ve had, without also sharing the things that haven’t gone quite well for us through this journey of building an apprenticeship training provider. So today, we’re going to talk about our failures and what we have learned from them.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 012 - How Do I Maximise the Apprenticeship Levy if I Am Not a Levy Payer? - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 12

How do I maximise the Apprenticeship Levy if I am not a Levy Payer?

When it comes to the Apprenticeship Levy funding, there is a presumption that many SMEs have made, that because they don’t pay into the levy, they can’t benefit from the levy. Today we want to bring you up to date with the existing opportunities of levy transfers, co-investment and funding so that you can have all the tools at your fingertips to maximise the Apprenticeship Levy in ways that potentially you haven’t even thought of.  

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 013 - Why Apprenticize Your Graduate Programme? - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 13

Why Apprenticize Your Graduate Programme?

We never shy away from being bold and testing the boundaries of people’s preconceptions of apprenticeships. Possibly one of the greatest ways of using an apprenticeship is by apprenticizing an already existing programme. Today we’re going to explain how it could work, and give you some ideas of other companies who have been apprenticizing different training programmes.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 014 - A Deep Dive into the Process Leader Level 4 Apprenticeship - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 14

A Deep Dive into the Process Leader Level 4 Apprenticeship

Over the next three episodes, we’ll be sharing with you some of our favourite apprenticeship standards. We’re going to start with the Process Leader Level 4, which beautifully brings together leadership capability and skills, alongside operational excellence and efficiency. We’ll go through some of the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are present in the programme, and explain how it can benefit your team and your business.  

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 015 - A Deep Dive into the Intelligence Analyst Level 4 Apprenticeship - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 15

A Deep Dive into the Intelligence Analyst Level 4 Apprenticeship

Intelligence Analyst Level 4 Standard is a globally recognised apprenticeship programme that we have been delivering for 14 months. Today we will share with you the nuts and bolts of this programme, how it helps different organisations use data and intelligence, what skills it builds, how it impacts decision-making, as well as what types of people and organisations will benefit most from this apprenticeship standard.

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 016 - A Deep Dive into the Digital Community Manager Level 4 Apprenticeship - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 16

A Deep Dive into the Digital Community Manager Level 4 Apprenticeship

This week, we are sharing with you a fairly new apprenticeship standard and one of our favourite ones, the Digital Community Manager Level 4. We will introduce this programme to you and share a case study of the impact it can have with creative agencies throughout the UK. We’ve been delivering this standard for 18-months with a population of people seeking to add value to their creative agencies, by looking at new talent and new ways of bringing people into their organisations. 

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 017 - A Deep Dive into the Team Leader Level 3 Apprenticeship - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 17

A Deep Dive into the Team Leader Level 3 Apprenticeship

Team Leader Level 3 Apprenticeship is another one of our favourite standards. Today we are going to share with you some of the creative ways that we have used it with our clients as their  graduate programmes, and also how we have seen some other organisations use this as a successful foundational apprenticeship.  

Opportunity: The Apprenticeship Podcast - Episode 018 - A Deep Dive into the Operations or Departmental Manager Level 5 Apprenticeship - with Michaela Reaney and Kate Temple-Brown

Episode 18

A Deep Dive Into the Operations or Departmental Manager Level 5 Apprenticeship

Operations or Departmental Manager Level 5 is another apprenticeship programme worth exploring, and a partner programme to Team Leader Level 3. Today, we want to talk about why it’s a good idea to prepare your leaders for what the future holds, but also how professionalising their ways of working is a beneficial skill set for your managers at any level. We’ll also share how we have seen this standard work with the different clients that we have been working with to deliver the ODM programme. 

Episode 19

How to Use Apprenticeships as a Retention Tool

As we’re all finding in the world right now, there is a challenge around retention of employees, supporting the talent in your team, and attracting those individuals to not only join your organisation, but to stay. So in this episode, we’re going to talk about using apprenticeships as a retention tool. We’ll share the findings of the research that we’ve been doing in this space, and how we believe apprenticeships are a great way to retain your staff as well as upskill existing employees to minimize the need to go to an already tight talent market for new hires. 

Episode 20

A Deep Dive into the Digital Marketer Level 3 Apprenticeship

Today, we’re talking about the Digital Marketer Level 3 Apprenticeship, a standard that we are starting to deliver this October as an open cohort, 13-month programme. We’ve launched this apprenticeship after successfully supporting young people into creative roles with our Marketing Debuts programme. We’ll share with you how we are planning to deliver the Digital Marketer Level 3 apprenticeship, and give some examples of what other organisations are doing with this standard.  

 

Episode 21

Open vs Closed Cohorts

Today, we’re going to have a debate about two ways of delivering an apprenticeship – through open and closed cohorts. First, we’ll define what open and closed cohorts are, and then we’ll discuss the benefits and potential limitations of each. As always, we’ll give examples of the types of organisations and learners that have used each format of apprenticeship and gained added value from either open or closed cohorts.  

Episode 22

The Importance of Mental Wellness for Your Apprentices

Today’s episode is dedicated to wellbeing, mental health and the holistic development of apprentices. In the last couple of years, we’ve discovered that the learners rely a lot on the support and guidance from their apprenticeship training provider and their employer throughout the course of their programme. So, how can you better support your apprentices to be resilient and mentally well, and why is it so important?  

Episode 23

Creating a Successful Apprenticeship

Today, we are bringing together some of the information that we’ve been sharing in other episodes, and we’re going to talk about creating a successful apprenticeship. We are going to use the acronym SET that stands for Strategy, Engagement, and Training Provider, in order to help you create the most effective apprenticeship programme for your organisation 

Episode 24

How to Maximise Your Apprenticeship Training Provider

In this episode, we’re talking about how to select and manage  a training provider. We’re going to guide you through our top tips and key steps to consider when deciding which apprenticeship provider to choose. We’ll also share with you some examples where a flexible approach to apprenticeship has worked really well, so we can help you build a good, long-lasting relationship with your training provider.  

The Opportunity Guide

If you want to find out more about the apprenticeship opportunity or if you are creating an apprenticeship strategy download our guide.

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