The continued success of our apprenticeship scheme

Posted 30th November 2019

Networking in the IT industry and our membership of organisations like Comptia constantly reminds us that there is a shortage of IT staff, not just in the UK but globally. When recruiting for an experienced role, the hiring process can be very long and frustrating journey, as typically high quality technicians aren’t always available.

So, twenty months ago, LP Networks decided to change our approach to employing staff and focussed on apprentices. Both Lee and Steve have always had a passion for nurturing committed engineers and what better way than to take school leavers and bringing them into a fast paced, relevant IT organisation. Kai, one of our apprentices agrees, “the Apprenticeship scheme itself is the perfect way to kickstart a career within the tech industry. The industry experience I gained from it is much more valuable to me than the classroom training but the balance between the two types of learning make the apprenticeship more challenging and more rewarding.”

After engaging with an apprenticeship specialist, we were soon interviewing. The most noticeable things during the interviews was not the nervousness and confidence of the interviewees, but their maturity and eagerness in wanting to be successful.

We were so impressed that we actually decided to employ two apprentices instead of the one we had planned for.

At LP Networks we offer IT solutions for small/medium businesses predominantly within the London and South East area. Our service offerings are very diverse and as a result our service desk team will not know the severity of an incoming call until they process it.

Whilst we do have an induction process and there is lots to learn, initially, we were mindful about both apprentices (Daniel and Kai) taking longer to complete the process than typical experienced staff. We were wrong to have any concern, both were engaging with our client base within a few weeks of coming on board. A few of our clients that have popped into our offices, remarked to our management team that they didn’t realise the “new” guys were so young. Which is a great credit to their telephone manner.

Both have been with us for just over eighteen months, and it’s amazing to see the transition they have both made and how they have fitted into the business. The customer satisfaction surveys that we receive always mention their natural calming influence on the phone.

We are delighted that following both their apprenticeship successes, they are continuing their employment at LP Networks as Service Desk Engineers. Their next step is to continue to learn their trade and also to help the new apprentices that have recently joined us. Daniel is planning to “Complete the 5 exams within next 12 months CompTIA and MSFT certs” whilst Kai plans to stay with the company to complete further industry certifications so that he has 4 more certifications as well as gaining further experience in the IT industry.

Would they recommend an apprenticeship to other school leavers? Both Daniel and Kai agree “yes!”, an apprenticeship helps you get your foot on the ladder in a competitive industry whilst learning at the same time.

We see both Daniel and Kai having a very bright future in IT and know they will continue to impress and progress at LP Networks.