Five ways a project management apprenticeship can benefit your business

Project management apprenticeships are important for developing not just the individual, but for the evolution of the project management profession as a whole. They offer the opportunity to re-skill staff, develop local talent and build the necessary competencies within an organisation. Here’s what we consider to be the five biggest benefits of a project management apprenticeship — for both the apprentice and the business:

1. Teach and nurture essential project management skills

While apprenticeships are known for their on-the-job training, a small but significant part of the training will be done via structured learning. This is where your project management apprentices will learn those essential skills, such as business case development, risk and issue management, cost control, project scope, budgeting and scheduling management.

And as an apprentice, they then benefit from being able to immediately apply that within their role in the business. They will learn from your existing, experienced project managers how to use the skills they’ve learnt in a real-life project, and they will start to understand their role within the wider project team.

2. Develop a project manager that knows your business

Surely one of the biggest draws for a organisation to run an apprenticeship scheme, is that you can develop and mould your apprentices to be employees who are exactly the right fit for your business. It’s a great way to invest in the future of your organisation.

You can ensure that the skills and knowledge they gain from the structured learning element of the apprenticeship are tailored to suit the way your company operates, but you can also develop skills for future needs. And then within the workplace, an apprentice’s mentor plays an important role, as they will help to instil the ethics and values of your organisation, whilst guiding and supporting your apprentice in line with your business goals.

3. Motivate your employees and increase staff retention

An apprenticeship is a long-term investment in an employee, and that tends to result in highly motivated members of staff who are more engaged and committed to the company.

For apprentices who are new to the business, they will (quite rightly) view their job as a career, and will stay with the organisation that invested in them for longer. And by offering an apprenticeship to an existing member of staff, you are demonstrating that you see the value in investing in their future, and that you consider them to be an integral part of the workforce.

Loyal staff means better staff retention and lower recruitment costs.

4. Create project managers with recognised qualifications

ILX’s apprentice programme leads to the APM PMQ (Level D) qualification — a proven standard and an early step on the route to chartered status. It’s a certification that will equip apprentices with the practical skills they need to run a project, but will also teach essential softer skills, such as stakeholder management, people management, communication and conflict resolution.

Apprentices can also become student members of the Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered body for the project management profession. Here they will have access to additional support, knowledge and training, so they can continue to learn and develop, even once they have completed their apprenticeship. This means they can stay up to date with the latest developments and trends in project management, enabling them to bring new and creative ideas to the business.

5. Enjoy positive ROI with an apprentice

5 million customers can’t be wrong, and this is the number of people who said they would prefer to do business with a company that employs apprentices, according to The Benefits of Apprenticeships to Business report from the Cebr. This is because people have a positive view of organisations that offer apprenticeships — they are recognised as providing opportunities for young people and contributing to society.

The same study also found that the average apprentice delivered a positive net gain of £1,670 each year to their employers, and that this number went up as high as £13,824 for team leadership and management apprenticeships.

The benefits of a project management apprenticeship are clear, so what’s next? We’ve put our 30 years of project management training experience to good use, and invested in the project managers of the future, with our digitally-native apprenticeship programme.

Why not come and have a chat with ILX to find out how you can put your apprenticeship levy to good use?