Webinar reveals the secrets of successful apprentice selection

March 3, 2016 - PRLog -- Best practice lessons on attracting and selecting the right applicants for apprenticeship schemes - from leading employers such as Siemens in Germany - will be examined in the latest webinar from cut-e, the international assessment specialist, on 16 March, 11.00am-12 noon GMT.

Governments across Europe are encouraging apprenticeship schemes to strengthen their economies, deliver the skills that employers need and give young people a viable alternative to university. But employers need to ensure they have appropriate processes in place both to select the best candidates and to help those candidates identify and apply for the right apprenticeship programme.

Called The Sorcery of Apprenticeships, this webinar will explain how to recruit apprentices who match the role and fit your culture, the qualities to look for in candidates, how to engage with applicants and how to ensure your selection process is fair and inclusive. Presented by Suzanne Courtney, Senior Consultant at ‎cut-e, it will also detail client examples outlining how large employers of apprentices, such as Siemens in Germany, select the right candidates.

“Recruiting apprentices is a different proposition from recruiting into experienced hire or graduate roles,” said Suzanne Courtney. “Historically, apprentice candidates have been school leavers with similar education levels and little experience, which makes it difficult for them to provide work-related examples at an interview. We’ll be examining how objective assessment, such as strengths and competency-based assessment, can help you choose the best fit candidates.”

A major challenge for many large employers of apprentices is that they don’t provide one single apprenticeship scheme. Different divisions will offer different options including practical, technical, specialist, project management, supply chain management, business management, design, maintenance and logistics. This puts a burden of ‘choice’ onto young and inexperienced applicants, who are left to decide for themselves which of the available apprenticeship programmes would be best suited for them.

“In the webinar, we’ll explain how Siemens in Germany has developed an online ‘pre-application’ assessment which analyses the preferences and strengths of school leavers and helps them choose the right apprenticeship programme from the 200 options they offer,” said Suzanne Courtney. “This not only helps candidates to focus their efforts on a single, specific apprenticeship programme, it also means that the employer’s applicant pool is populated with better-suited candidates whose motivations and interests match the role type.”

The webinar will also give best practice guidance on promoting gender, age and ethnicity and evaluating the effectiveness and fairness of your campaign at the end of your hiring scheme.

Register online for The Sorcery of Apprenticeships webinar at: https://goo.gl/40H0NR

For further information about cut-e, please call +44 (0)20 8133 3361 or visit http://www.cut-e.com/solutions/trainee-and-apprentice-selection/

Background notes: Founded in 2002, cut-e (pronounced ‘cute’) provides ability, personality, motivation, values, creativity and integrity assessments in 70 countries and 40 languages, for apprentice, entry-level, graduate and experienced hire roles.