To receive a short presentation from the Council’s apprentices on their work and experiences at EFDC.
Minutes:
The Committee received a short presentation from the eight corporate apprentices, Tyler Raymond, Rebecca Linford, Rebecca Yellop, Emily Gowens, Sian Pavitt, Amber Stewart, Jay Binks and Zach Webb. They each gave a brief outline of the work that they were doing and how it helped them develop. Along with the day to day work that they did for their respective directorates the apprentices noted that:
· It had helped them to see how other departments work and to meet the various officers that work for the council;
· It showed them the different kinds of jobs available;
· It helped them to understand the situations and people that the council deal with;
· It gave them confidence and communication skills (Letter and email writing, dealing with people over the counter and on the phones);
· It added to their overall knowledge about the council;
· And best of all it added to their life skills.
As well as their routine jobs they also organised the Christmas Jumper Day (for charity) and helped in the Careers Fest.
The meeting was then opened up to questions from the members present.
Councillor Kane asked what the selection process like. She was told that there were different ways used, some were contacted by the Council, had their CV reviewed and then had interviews and after that they had a trial period to see if they fitted in. During this process they got to learn about interviews and how to prepare and conduct themselves at interviews.
Councillor Whitehouse noted that it was a balance between gaining working experience and gaining qualifications. The apprentices said that they had a tutor from college that interviews them once a month, monitoring how they were getting on.
Councillor Lion asked if they were still going to have their outplacements and was told that would happen later on in the spring. He then asked if this experience had helped them choose a career. They responded that it had helped them know what they wanted to do by giving them a taste of different jobs and getting to see what exactly the Council did.
Councillor Whitbread said he was proud of what they had achieved. They were all local residents and the Council had wanted to do something for its local young people.
The Assistant Director, Human Resources added that this was the second cohort of apprentices, as they recruit new apprentices every other year. She also noted that we still had most of the apprentices from the first cohort working for us; as we had invested in their training we would not like to see them go.
The Chairman asked the apprentices if there was anything they would like from the leadership, and was told that there was nothing in particular they wanted but maybe the council could use the apprentices to help promote the scheme. Councillor Stavrou suggested that maybe they could produce a video to help in the promotion for the next cohort, or they could publicise their work at a future Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.
The Chairman thanked the apprentices for their interesting presentation and their forthright answers to the questions asked.