The Press Association (PA), the UK’s leading multimedia news agency and digital content supplier, continues the company’s support for the local workforce in Yorkshire by increasing its apprenticeship scheme intake.
Partnering with top performing Selby College, PA has recruited 10 apprentices for new roles in departments such as IT, Finance, HR and Sports Data at its Operations Centre in Howden, East Yorkshire.
All apprentices receive training and support throughout the 12 month programme and will benefit from the hands-on nature of each role, while receiving a full trainee salary. An assessor from Selby College will monitor the candidate and assess them to the completion of their apprenticeship.
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Successful applicants can graduate with a Diploma qualification, a year’s work experience and the potential for future employment at PA if a suitable vacancy is available.
In addition, PA is working with Nottingham-based ncn business to business – the employer side of New College Nottingham – to recruit another two apprentices in marketing and sales administration positions for the PA Images business.
Rebecca Buck, PA’s Head of HR, said: “At a time when apprenticeship schemes are increasingly in the spotlight, PA continues to look for opportunities to invest in the future workforce and support our local community.
“As a leading employer in the region, we are helping to nurture local talent through our programme, while harvesting the new and fresh ideas this workforce will bring to our company. We look forward to the on-going success of our apprentices and the scheme as a whole.”
Julie Scott, Business Services Manager at Selby College, the area’s largest Apprenticeships provider, said: “Apprenticeships offer many unique benefits to forward thinking employers like the Press Association, allowing them to have employees not only trained to their specific requirements but who will then be able to be deployed to any part of the organisation to meet their future needs.”
Becky Hill, finance apprentice at PA, said: “When PA offered me the fantastic opportunity to embark on an accounting qualification, alongside earning a wage, I couldn’t turn it down.
“Undertaking an apprenticeship is a great way to gain vital workplace experience and I would highly recommend it to other people considering alternative paths than the traditional route of university.”
PA is playing an active role in supporting employment initiatives in the Yorkshire and Humber area, with PA’s Head of Operations, Margaret Hicks-Clarke, sitting on the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership Employment and Skills Board.
The company recently partnered with The CREATE Studio in Goole, East Yorkshire, to support Business Studies students in developing their skill set.
It is also among more than 120 companies from the Humber region which have signed up to the Humber Skills Pledge – a campaign by the Local Enterprise Partnership to raise awareness of what skills investment can achieve for business and the local economy. Employing an apprentice is one of six pledges employers are invited to fulfil as part of the scheme.
