Checklist for setting up an apprentice
- Start with the ‘About the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprenticeships‘ webpage for an overview.
- Read the more detailed pages in the ‘Employ an apprentice‘ section of our website. You can also attend our training on apprenticeships.
- Get in touch with us at armapprenticeship@nationalarchives.gov.uk to express your interest in employ an apprentice. We can help with any questions you still have.
- Speak to your organisation’s Human Resources (HR) department about employing an apprentice. If your organisation pays the apprenticeship levy, speak to the person in your organisation who manages your organisations Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) account.
- Make the case internally to senior management to get the support and funding you need to employ an apprentice (like any other new member of staff).
- Follow our best practice guide below for setting up an inclusive apprenticeship, recruiting the right candidate and delivering an effective induction.
Best practice approach to setting up an apprenticeship
Archives require professionals with proper training to manage high volumes of information, some of which can be highly sensitive, challenging, and confidential. However, current recruitment approaches in archives are perpetuating a lack of diversity across our sector, which means our unique professions are not being filled by talent that’s representative of the UK’s wider working population. We must change this if our workforce is to reflect the diversity of information our archives hold, and if they’re to feel open and accessible to all.
Apprenticeships provide us with an opportunity to train new and diverse generations of archive professionals via an alternative work-based learning route, but this route will only be effective if the sector uses it to train talent from all corners of our communities.
Recruiting and managing an apprentice shouldn’t feel that different to any other employee, with the following exceptions:
- You should remember you’re seeking to recruit somebody that has little or no experience of the role.
- Managers and colleagues should be patient with apprentices – they are learning to do the job you’ve hired them for, rather than already knowing how to do it.
- You need to work in partnership with a training provider and end-point assessment organisation to ensure full delivery of the apprenticeship.
The following is encouraged when recruiting and managing apprentices, particularly for entry level candidates that are newer to the world of work:
1. Write a clear job description
This job description should be based on your vacancy needs so that it is real. Focus the role’s responsibilities on the things that the post holder will learn to do rather than responsibilities they already have experience of. Use plain and simple language and avoid assuming knowledge in the reader. A candidate’s potential here isn’t best measured by their current ability to understand your acronyms or specific terminology related to the role – you are going to help them learn all of this when you train them on the job.
2. Identify the most suitable apprenticeship standard
The real job description sets the pace, not the other way round. If the job description you’ve written shows that your organisation needs an assistant rather than an archivist, consider the Level 3 Library Information and Archive Services Assistant apprenticeship instead. You can find details of all the apprenticeship standards available in England on the Institute for Apprenticeships’ website.
3. Identify a training provider
Find a training provider that delivers training for your selected apprenticeship standard on the Government’s Find Apprenticeship Training website. Just type the name of the apprenticeship standard you’re seeking a training provider for in the ‘filter’ search box and it will list all the providers that support that standard. Training Providers must be registered on the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR) to deliver apprenticeship training and draw down funding to do so. For the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager apprenticeships, the only training provider is Westminster Adult Education Service, which provides national coverage.
4. Openly recruit into your apprenticeship vacancy
If apprenticeships are to be used to support a broad pool of talent in pursuing a career in the sector, we must openly and fairly recruit into these positions. Think about advertising your apprenticeship vacancy via a range of channels and platforms and try to avoid advertising in places that are more commonly used by the sector – this will help you broaden your reach.
Think about the job application methods and whether you can use a blind competency-based method over and above a standard application form or CV and covering letter. Blind competency-based approaches allow you to ask a series of questions and/or pose scenarios that can help draw out an applicant’s potential related to the role.
Let’s look at some examples of scenarios you could pose:
Example 1: ‘Somebody has approached you about a report they are writing and they need help finding some specific information to include. How would you go about helping them find the information they need? What questions might you ask? How would you communicate with them? Use no more than 350 words to set out your response.’
This scenario has the potential to help draw out the candidate’s demeanour and communication style, how they’d approach dealing with a customer, their basic analytical skills, their approach to working with others in a team that possess specialist knowledge, as well as their ability to write clearly and succinctly.
Example 2: Please tell us about a time that you made recommendations about a new piece of work to be undertaken. How did you set out your recommendations? What did you do to ensure your recommendations were objectively informed? How did you communicate your recommendations and to whom? How did you manage any challenging responses to your recommendations? What was the outcome? Use no more than 500 words to set out your response.’
This example could be used to help draw out a candidate’s research skills, their ability to inform decision making and work effectively with decision makers, their approach to dealing with challenging behaviour, and setting and/or following a process.
Competency based recruitment methods can enable candidates to give responses that demonstrate highly transferable skills or explain how they might go about a task. When you use competency-based questions and scenarios to hire apprentices, you’re looking to draw out a candidate’s potential to reach competence in the role you’re hiring for. Using such an approach is also proven to broaden the range of candidates that apply for a role.
5. Shortlist and interview but think about the method(s) you use
Is a panel interview the best approach here? Remember these can feel intimidating. It is your responsibility to make candidates feels comfortable so they can demonstrate their potential to learn and develop under your guidance. Setting tasks relevant to the role to help draw out potential, including team tasks to see how candidates interact with others, can be highly effective. Remember, if you ask candidates to present at interview, presenting is a skill in and of itself so if you aren’t looking for someone to present as part of the role, maybe refrain from using this method at interview.
6. Implement a thorough induction
Remember an apprentice is learning to reach competence so don’t assume they know who you are, what you do, or what their role will entail exactly. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the apprentice has the information and tools they need. This includes fully understanding the organisation they’re training with, the occupation and sector they’re training for, and the colleagues they’ll be working with and why. They should always have a dedicated line manager with whom they have regular one-to-one meetings to share feedback, discuss progress, and set objectives.
It is also advised that the line manager puts in place clear objectives with their apprentice from the start and initially focuses these on the first three months of the role. A tripartite review meeting between the apprentice, employer, and training provider should also take place at least every 12 weeks and ideally much more frequently than this. If your training provider isn’t seeking or supporting such review meetings, it is advised that you discuss this with a senior contact within the training provider.