Apprenticeships: The Chartered Insurance Institute's guide to getting started

As the insurance and financial services professions look to widen the talent pool from which they draw in order to secure the professionals of the future, apprenticeships are playing an ever-increasing role. There remain many myths that surround apprenticeships, especially the perceived bureaucracy. Our guide gives a picture of what is really involved when taking on an apprentice.

The guide covers a variety of topics, from what an apprenticeship offers through to the benefits of developing existing members of staff alongside hiring apprentice-level employees and what steps a firm needs to follow to make the initiative work. These include identifying where an apprentice would fit in to the existing business structure, seeking a suitable training provider to help manage the process and arrange funding, methods of recruitment, induction processes, implementing plans to help develop apprentice skills and knowledge and providing regular forums for feedback and evaluation.

The guide also provides details of the Trailblazer process which is changing apprenticeships in England and the apprenticeship levy (which comes into force in 2017).