Catering Apprenticeship – Commis Chef (Level 2)

by
A catering image, featuring two young commis chefs preparing food in a kitchen.

Kickstart your career in the catering industry with a Level 2 Commis Chef apprenticeship. Apprenticeships are becoming more and more popular, proving that they are not just an option for school leavers. As a Commis Chef, you could work in a variety of different places. This could include hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, hospitals or even in a military establishment. You would spend 12 months working as part of a large team, including but not limited to chefs of all seniorities, front of house staff, suppliers, and customers. During your apprenticeship you will gain invaluable skills, learning how to follow recipes to produce food of an excellent standard, as well as learning the importance of teamwork in all areas of the industry.

You will work as part of the kitchen brigade ensuring quality standards of the food are met and food safety management documentation is complete. Although Commis Chef’s may work unsociable hours, they will always be supervised in their work, reporting to a senior chef.

Key responsibilities for a Level 2 Commis Chef Apprenticeship

As a Commis Chef Apprentice, you will be responsible for a number of duties that will contribute to your knowledge of the industry. Please see below examples of what this could entail:

  • The apprentice will work with other members of the team to produce high quality dishes, ensuring food is served in a timely manner.
  • You will contribute to refreshing menus by using their skills to review and improve the offering.
  • Follow organisational brand standards and recipe specifications. This could include portion control and waste management.
  • Ensure to keep the kitchen a clean and hygienic place to work.
  • Complete food safety documentation.
  • Maintain stock levels following a stock rotation system.

Entry requirements for a Level 2 Apprenticeship in the catering industry

Unlike a higher Level apprenticeship, the entry requirements for a Level 2 apprenticeship are more reachable. If you do not yet have your Level 2 English and Maths qualification, you can work towards this during the apprenticeship. However, this must be complete before the end point assessment.

There are several qualities that are required for this apprenticeship, some of which are below:

  • The individual is accurate and pays attention to detail
  • Consistent, reliable, and respectful in the workplace
  • Works in line with and respects the values and culture of the organisation
  • Enthusiastic and committed to developing their skills
  • Uses their initiative to develop their skills and knowledge through on and off the job training experiences

If you already have a minimum of 4 GCSEs at grades A*- C, you may be able to start your apprenticeship at Level 3. However, a Level 2 apprenticeship is a great option to work your way up to the next Level if you do not meet the requirements.

A catering image, featuring a chopping board with fresh food being prepared by a commis chef.

Commis Chef career path

Once you have experience as a Commis Chef, the next step would be becoming Demi Chef de Partie then onto a Chef de Partie which is a section chef. The natural career path from here would be a promotion to Sous Chef, which would be the lead up to progressing towards head chef.

Conclusion

An entry Level apprenticeship is the perfect opportunity to break into your desired industry. Apprenticeships can lead into full time work; in the meantime you earn while you learn. Once you have completed the Level 2 grade, you could further your knowledge and qualification with a Level 3 apprenticeship, progressing all the way up to Level 6. If you would like to see what other catering apprenticeships are available in the UK, you can find more information on our latest page under catering and hospitality apprenticeships.

If you are a business and looking to employ a Level 2 apprentice, you can find additional information around the process and cost on our website. To stay in the know and keep up to date with ApprenticeTips new articles, you can sign up to our mailing list here.

Top 3 Tips for a Great Start in Digital Marketing

by

It’s essential that people have the right knowledge, skills and confidence when getting started in apprenticeships. With digital marketing apprenticeships being a specific and unique profession to get into, I thought I’d share my top 3 tips into getting started and ensuring a good and solid foundation for success.

Realise it for yourself

You’ll find that you are probably involved in one aspect of digital marketing every single day. Whether that’s typing in your favourite products on a popular search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc) to scrolling through social media or watching your favourite youtubers and coming across paid ads as an result, it’s needless to say that digital marketing is around us everywhere.

Seeing and appreciating Digital Marketing in this way will only help to raise your interest, awareness, but also develop your knowledge concerning the industry. As most young people have the opportunity using these aspects everyday, I’d suggest utilising them through the lense of a digital marketer. As you use these tools it would be good to raise a few points like:

  • Why does a search engine suggest keywords when finding a product on Google?
  • Why are the ads on social media telling me to ‘swipe up for more’ and what does swiping up do?
  • Why are companies constantly emailing me with incentives like ‘10% vouchers’?

There is always a reason behind these things and when going into Digital Marketing as an apprentice it definitely stands out and makes an impression on you that you can’t forget.

Get Familiar with Digital Marketing Tools

It’s important to familiarise yourself with tools that are needed for digital marketing. This way you’ll be able to track webpages and marketing campaigns and have a good understanding of how they perform.

KPIs and metrics such as form fills, page views, bounce rate, click through rate, open rate, organic reach and many more can all be measured on platforms such as:

And many more…

Commit yourself to short and free courses

One way in which I was able to get a great start in my Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship was through short and free courses that I searched for on Google.

There was a variety of courses that I completed prior to starting and during my apprenticeship. Doing these courses really established a foundation of knowledge that I was able to develop. The courses that I covered answered some questions that I had such as:

  • What does SEO stand for and what does it mean?
  • What tools do you use to measure paid campaigns?
  • How do I track the performance and data of a webpage?
  • How does Google Analytics work?
  • How do I know that emails are effective?

I recommend the following resources that provided all the latest updates, information and education needed for a great start in Digital Marketing:

Conclusion

In conclusion it’s important to integrate all of these tips, tricks and methods when getting into the field of Digital Marketing for any young person. Having these standards in place will definitely give any young person seeking an apprenticeship a great advantage in the field.

For the latest resources, updates and information around everything apprenticeships connect with us by filling the form below.

Be sure to connect with us on Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and Flickr for more updates!

Top 5 Interview Tips for your Dream Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship

by
Handshake at Level 3 Digital Marketing apprenticeship interview

Are you preparing for your dream level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship interview? Want to get a boost ahead of other candidates for the role? Here are the top 5 interview tips for your level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship.

1. Maintain a summary of prior digital marketing experiences 

You must make a list of experiences to show off your already developing digital marketing competencies. Whether that be work experience or a side hustle, anything to show off that you possess a genuine passion and interest for the standard. Some good ideas to include could be:

  • Using social media insights to generate posts (e.g. Instagram Insights)
  • Writing a blog about digital marketing topics
  • Describe how you keep up to date with the latest
  • Create a website with the intent to rank highly on Google

Overall, you want to get across in your interview that the passion for digital marketing resides in you, you just need that real-world practicality and learning to take your skills and knowledge to the next level!

Digital screen displaying LinkedIn

2. Update your LinkedIn profile and other digital channels

When applying for digital apprenticeships it is more crucial than ever that you have set up a LinkedIn account and keep it up to date. If you want to grow your digital marketing connections, an impressive presence on LinkedIn is a must. Hiring managers across different industries use LinkedIn to scout talent before interviews. It allows them to personalise questions and gain a greater insight into an individual’s digital history. So, if you’re not on there… how are they supposed to find you! Even worse, an account that is not up to date could leave an employer questioning your professionalism.

It is also vital that you update any other digital channel where you professionally present yourself. This could be an Instagram account where you sell products or advertise a service. These are the small differences to make your future employer believe in your initiative.

3. Prepare using practice questions

If your interview is 30 minutes long, that is approximately 30 minutes of questions. Therefore, it is key that you practice relevant questions. An example of digital marketing questions could be:

  • What do you like most about digital marketing?
  • What do you like least about digital marketing?
  • What digital marketing platforms and software do you use?
  • What do you think is the biggest challenge in digital marketing, and how are you addressing it?
  • What are the most important qualities for a digital marketer?

These types of questions can be practiced by writing answers down or speaking out loud. However, the most effective way is to practice them with a family member or friend. Through this method, you can also perfect your tone of voice and body language to convey confidence.

4. Be aware of key level 3 digital marketing terminology

Research the most used terms in digital marketing and make a list of them. These can be found on level 3 digital marketing assessment plans. Throughout your preparation for the interview learn and memorise what each term means and what connects them to digital marketing. Some examples that could be on that list:

  • SEO
  • SEM or Search marketing
  • Customer acquisition
  • Conversion rate
  • SERP
  • Impressions
  • CTR
  • CPM
  • CPC
  • CRM
  • ROI

And there are plenty more! Being able to drop these digital marketing terms could give you the edge and impress your interviewer.

5. Research the organisation you have applied for a level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship with

Dropping digital marketing terms into answers on your interview communicates your interest in the standard. However, in addition to this, you also want to pass on your interest in the organisation you have applied for. Be sure to research previous successful (and unsuccessful) digital campaigns that organisation had delivered and follow them on all platforms to keep up to date with new projects. Not only will this tip show you have done your research but display willingness to work on digital campaigns such as these.

Bonus tip!

Now that you have actioned each of these Interview tips for level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship, you are in a much better position to show off your digital marketing competencies before your interview. But there is one final tip that you should know… relax and be yourself! Remember why you have made it to the interview stage and that they are impressed already, now it is time to impress them even more!

Be sure to follow our Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn for more digital marketing tips!

Image credits to Unsplash

Level 6 Social Worker Degree Apprenticeship

by

With a growth in the care and social work industry since the start of the pandemic, employers are finding new and innovative ways to recruit an experienced, diverse and well trained workforce. There has been a huge demand for young people to get on this particular career path and excel through apprenticeship programs. This blog will explain how degree apprenticeships are a new and emerging trend that young people may want to consider.

The Rising Demand and Why Now?

It’s no surprise that there has been a growth in the social work field ever since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now more than ever, the welfare of citizens need to be tended too as there seems to be an increase in social issues ranging from domestic violence, crime and deviance and the increase in poverty.

With the issues at hand, it also raises the point that there is a demand for a growing workforce. From this realisation for more workers and professionals in the field, it gives young people great opportunities to be on the career path of social work. There are great initiatives in place also as Social Work England and other social work institutes across the UK aim to highlight. Factors such as equality, diversity and inclusion are all valid reasons for young people who have an interest in the field of social work to be involved.

the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are central to our work as an effective regulator and employer. 

Social Work England

There is definitely a huge demand for new types of people in the profession and that explains why there is a rise in social work apprenticeships. With more young people rejecting the traditional route of attending university to be successful, there seems to be more individuals that are suited to the ‘earn as you learn’ model of education. The social work sector facilitates this with a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities including the Level 6 Social Work Degree Apprenticeship which still gives people the opportunity to graduate and be an expert in the field all whilst receiving a salary for the entirety of your degree.

Sounds good right?

Jobs and Entry Criteria

The social work degree apprenticeship provides opportunities for an apprentice to learn the skills required to perform typical roles in the industry. There are always employment opportunities within social work with the following sectors:

  • local authorities – e.g. social services, councils and boroughs
  • the NHS – e.g. hospitals, mental health trusts, community based settings
  • charity and voluntary organisations – such as Age Concern, Barnardo’s etc
  • residential and non-residential care organisations
  • HM Prison and Probation Service
  • private or independent organisations
  • schools, colleges and universities

Salaries tend to be healthy also ranging from £24,000 to £30,000 a year as a newly qualified social worker and averagely £40,000+ within senior roles depending on local authorities and location. It’s definitely needless to say that a healthy and strong foundation can be established with a level 6 social work degree apprenticeship giving you a great foot forward as you progress and excel in the profession.

The entry requirements for a level 6 social work degree apprentice consist typically of 5 or more GCSEs and a minimum qualification of entry level 3 maths and english. Some employers usually also require 3 or more A-levels or BTECs for qualification, but most qualifications needed are very much attainable for young people.

Key Responsibilities of a Level 6 Social Work Degree Apprentice

As a Social Worker you’ll closely work in collaboration with adults, children, carers and families in a range of different settings to support and promote positive change in people’s lives in order to improve their wellbeing and independence. As a result of this you’ll have to use your professional judgement and build relationships with a variety of individuals and communities, as well as with a wide range of other professionals and agencies. You’re expected to protect individuals from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Therefore, you’d have to work in a way that is compassionate and empathetic taking account of all aspects of the individual’s life and ensuring their voice is central to decision making.

Content for Adult Care Worker blog

Core Competencies

As part of your Job role, you’re also expected to complete a number of objectives and competencies throughout your apprenticeship. These include:

  • Understanding of professional values and ethics
  • Collaboration of people who use services, carers, their families and communities
  • Evidence-based decision making and analysis
  • Personal and professional development
  • Safe professional practice and safeguarding
  • Reporting and recordings of applicable legislation, protocols and guidelines
  • Following the Social Work England Standards of Conduct protocol

Degree Modules and Topics

Topics and modules vary depending on employers and training providers but all social worker degree apprentices are expected to learn and advance in knowledge utilising the following themes as an example:

  • Introduction to social work
  • Social problems and social policy
  • Understanding society: Britain in global context
  • Social policy, welfare and the state
  • Readiness for direct social work practice
  • Social work practice case study
  • Mental health social work
  • Social work with children and families
  • Social work with adults

Conclusion

The information provided from this blog should confirm to young people and make them feel confident that a pursuit in a degree apprenticeship is achievable and a great opportunity. With the rise in social issues since the start of the pandemic, it’s also a great time for an equal, diverse and included workforce to improve and maintain the industry. This opportunity as an alternative to the traditional route of university gives people a great incentive as they are paid to learn all whilst acquiring new skills in the profession.

Get in touch for more updates on apprenticeships!

Be sure to connect with us on Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and Flickr for more updates!

5 Free Email Marketing Tools to Create Effective Campaigns in 2022

by
Three emails in a Gmail Workspace inbox

Contrary to what many may think, email marketing isn’t dead. In fact, the average order value of an email is three times higher than that of social media. It is thus no wonder that email marketing remains one of the specialisms listed in the digital marketing apprenticeship standard. Use these best email marketing tools and software to develop effective email marketing campaigns.

  1. Best Email Service Provider (ESP) | Mailchimp
  2. Best Email Template Builder | Stripo
  3. Best for Email Marketing Analysis | Google Analytics
  4. Best Email Copywriting Tool | Grammarly
  5. Best for Email Compression | Compress JPEG

Best Email Service Provider (ESP) | Mailchimp

Let’s start with the most essential: email service providers. ESPs allow you to send email campaigns to a list of subscribers using email software. Mailchimp is a great free one because you can split your subscribers up into groups and segments. This means you can send targeted emails improving click-through rates and conversions. In 2022, personalisation continues to be an important part of email marketing strategies, and email automation is a great way to achieve this. Email automation is available on Mailchimp and can be used to create effective drip marketing campaigns, ensuring you send the right message at the right moment to the right people. Other ESPs you could look at are Zoho Campaigns, which is free with up to 6,000 emails per month to 2,000 contacts, and Klaviyo, which is also free with up to 500 emails to up to 250 contacts.

Cost: Mailchimp Free includes up to 2,000 contacts, with 10,000 sends per month and a daily limit of 2,000.

Digital marketing apprenticeship standard: Technologies, implementation, specialist areas (email marketing), digital tools

A person planning their email workflow strategy on a whiteboard for abandoned cart emails
Email automation workflows can be directly created in Mailchimp

Best Email Template Builder | Stripo

Most ESPs provide a host of free email marketing templates, but they are usually basic newsletter designs. Stripo utilises drag-and-drop content modules to help you create HTML email templates, and is one of my personal favourites as you can set the branding for headings and other design elements. Additionally, each content block can be optimised for mobile. Using Stripo you can create beautiful email mock-ups and reuse the templates. Sections of your email templates can also be saved as modules, which can be dragged into new designs. Altogether, Stripo guarantees brand consistency across your email campaigns.

Cost: The free version of Stripo allows you to create two email templates and export 4 emails to ESPs per month

Digital marketing apprenticeship standard: Technologies, specialist area, digital tools

Best Email Marketing Analysis | Google Analytics

ESPs are great sources to collect email metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates and email deliverability. But, once a user clicks on a link and leaves their email inbox, ESPs can no longer track their behaviour. This is where Google Analytics comes in. Using UTM tracking parameters, Google Analytics can track where users came from, how long they spend on a page and whether they ended up completing a goal. As a result, digital marketers can calculate their return on investment for their email marketing strategy.

Cost: Google Analytics is free for small and medium-sized businesses

Digital marketing apprenticeship standard: Data, analysis, digital tools, digital analytics

Best Email Copywriting Tool | Grammarly

Have you ever sent an email and then realised there’s a typo? It can happen, but unfortunately, it could make your brand look unprofessional. While email best practice is to write copy in Google Docs or a Word Document, this can often be time-consuming. These word processors do not analyse the text for the tone of voice either. Grammarly is a writing assistant that does not only review your spelling but also your grammar, inflexion, and clarity of the sentences. The best features are Grammarly’s plug-ins that can be used in apps, word processors and, you guessed it, email clients. This ensures you can write easily readable and typo-free email campaigns even when time is of the essence.

Cost: Grammarly free checks for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Digital marketing apprenticeship standard: Written communication, technologies

Best for Email Compression | Compress JPEG

If you have used an ESP before, you may have noticed a warning comes up when you try to import an image that is too big. The reason ESPs have these pop-ups is that emails over 3MB in size risk being flagged as spam. One way to reduce an email’s size is to compress the photos in it. Compress JPEG makes it easy to import or drop the files into its compressor. After the software compresses the file, you can download the minimised version. Any files uploaded on Compress JPEG are deleted after one hour because security and privacy are key to the operations of most businesses. You can also adjust the quality, and in turn the file size, manually. In addition to JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs and PDF files can also be compressed by clicking on the appropriate tab on the website.

Cost: Compress JPEG and its sister sites are free to use with unlimited file compressions

Digital marketing apprenticeship standard: Problem-solving, digital tools, interprets and follows

Screenshots of where you can upload the file, adjust the quality and download the minimised file format on Compress JPEG
On Compress JPEG, you can upload a file, adjust the quality and then download the minimised version.

Creating Effective Email Marketing Campaigns

As a digital marketer, it is important to understand the wide range of tools at your disposal. Using various email marketing tools will bring you one step closer to building and implementing a great email campaign that is sure to impress your line manager and EPA organisation.

Follow us on social media to get digital marketing tips and tricks in your daily feed.

Twitter Link
LinkedIn Link

Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship – Level 2

by
Adult Care Worker supporting woman in wheelchair

Begin your career by choosing an adult care worker apprenticeship. The role entails providing frontline care for vulnerable adults within their own homes, day-care centres, residential, and nursing homes.

This 18-month course is one of the best apprenticeships in the UK for people with a passion for helping others. Develop your professional skills in addition to making a positive difference to someone’s life. Enhance your understanding of individuals that face physical, practical, social, emotional or intellectual challenges.

Entry requirements for the Level 2 Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship

Employers of this apprenticeship find it desirable that a candidate has completed a level 1 in Maths and English (equivalent to GCSE Grade C or above). Nevertheless for those apprentices who are yet to achieve these qualifications they will have an opportunity to do so. Apprentices will also need to take the test for level 2 Maths and English prior to EPA (End-Point Assessment).

For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement the apprenticeships English and maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3. British Sign Language qualification are an alternative to English qualifications for whom this is their primary language.

Key responsibilities of an adult care worker

An adult key worker must know the responsibilities of the job role relevant to the context of the service. Examples could include:

  • Supporting individuals with social activities, assisting with eating and mobility.
  • Monitoring health levels and being able to identify, respond to and escalate changes to physical, social and emotional needs of individuals.
  • Accessing, following and being compliant with regulations, organisational policies, and procedures.
  • Knowing what the ‘duty of care’ is in practice.
  • Contributing towards the creation of a care plan concentrating on the individuals’ preferences in regard to the way they want to be supported.
  • Knowing the importance of communication, furthermore being aware how that can affect the relationship with the individuals they are supporting.
  • Supporting individuals to remain safe from harm.
Adult Care Worker supporting elderly woman

Personal attributes of an adult care worker

Behaviours and personal attributes expected of all adult care works carrying out their roles consist of the 6 C’s:

  • Care – consistent care is crucial to making a positive difference to individuals’ lives.
  • Compassion – it is essential to deliver care and support with kindness, consideration, dignity, and respect.
  • Courage – always doing the right thing and escalating issues if the individual they support is at risk.
  • Communication – good communication is principal to successful caring relationships and effective team working.
  • Competence – applying skills and knowledge learnt through apprenticeship training to supply high quality care and support.
  • Commitment – to improving the experience of people who need care, supporting them to achieve control and choice in their lives.

Qualifications received at the end of the apprenticeship

Upon completion of the apprenticeship, trainees will receive a nationally recognised Level 2 Diploma in Care. Earning this qualification will allow individuals to apply for further apprenticeships in care such as Lead Adult Care Worker courses and Leader in Adult Care courses.

In conclusion…

If your passion is caring for others or you have a particular interest in health and well-being, the Level 2 Adult Care Worker course is an excellent starting point. The experience coupled with off the job training are perfect for individuals who want to pursue employment in job roles such as care assistant, residential and domiciliary care, health care assistant, or support worker.

So, if the above information interests you, kick start your career in care and apply to an Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship near you!

Found this article helpful and want to find out more? Register your email below to receive regular updates on future articles.

Want to find out more other apprenticeships? Feel free to explore our other articles here.

Images credit to Unsplash and Pexels

Young People and Families Practitioner (Level 4 Apprenticeship)

by
Young People and Families Practitioner

Do you have a passion for caring? If so, this Practitioner Apprenticeship could be perfect. You will work with children and young people while learning from experienced professionals! 

The two pathways for this apprenticeship consist of community and residential options. The contents depend on which one you take, so be sure to check out their differences. 

Apprenticeship Details

Duration: Typically 24 months for new entrants. For those with relevant qualifications and experience in the health and social care field, 12 to 18 months. 

Level: 4

Entry Requirements – Undertake the Disclosure and Barring Service process and provide the result

Qualifications: Level 2 English and Maths

Option 1. Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare

Option 2. Certificate in Higher Education in working with Children Young People and Families

Key Behaviours and Values Expected of a Level 4 Children, Young People and Family Practitioner

Care: Respecting and valuing individuals to keep them safe, being affirming and working with them to help them make a positive difference to their lives. 

Compassion: Consideration and concern for children, young people and their families, combined with an understanding of the perspective of those you work with.

Courage: Honesty and a positive belief in helping children, young people and families. Being confident when faced with confrontation, holding a safe space to manage and contain really difficult behaviours and working with children, young people and families to challenge and enable them to fulfil their potential 

Communication: Your work is based on building effective relationships, being perceptive and empathic and building good rapport Competence: The relationships you build to effect change for children, young people and families will be informed by social care ethics and values and will be developed through reflective practice. 

Commitment: Creating sustainable change in others by working alongside children, young people and families and being authentic, consistent, patient, persistent and resilient.

What Core Knowledge Is Required For This Apprenticeship? 

Knowledge and understanding of:

  • Communication that enables the voice of the child, young person or family members to be heard
  • Equality, rights, diversity and cultural differences, and the values of the organisation in which you are working. 
  • The range of potential safeguarding risk factors (e.g. domestic violence, membership of gangs, missing children)
  • Child, adolescent and adult development
  • The duties, responsibilities, boundaries and ethical nature of the role
  • Systems and policy frameworks for work with children, young people and families. e.g. education, health, care, employment, criminal justice, special educational needs and disabilities, first aid, safeguarding.
Young People and Families Practitioner (Level 4 Apprenticeship)

What Are The Apprenticeship Options? 

OPTION 1: Practitioner in Children’s Residential Care

You could be working in a number of settings. For example, a children’s home or a residential special school. You will be the lead in developing and delivering a child’s placement plan that ensures their health, education as well as social needs are met. You play an important role throughout this process by helping them thrive to fulfil potential.

OPTION 2: Children, Young People and Families Practitioner within the Community

You could work in a number of settings. For example family homes, youth centres, children’s centres or educational settings. You will be an expert in early intervention and safeguarding work. You’ll understand how important it is to take preventative measures with children, young people or families who need your help! You will be helping children, young people and families to overcome barriers. Your support is crucial in enabling them to achieve their full potential!

Conclusion

As you can see, the level 4 Children, Young People and Families Practitioner is an excellent option for anyone looking to pursue a career in care. The core skills covered in the apprenticeship will open up a wide range of job opportunities. In addition, you will earn while you learn and there are excellent progression opportunities to advance your learning in the future. Some examples are the Healthcare assistant practitioner (level 5 apprenticeship). Employers are keen to use apprenticeship to shape how their employees learn and progress. 

If you would like to learn more about this apprenticeship or to apply, get in touch with us today.

UTM Tracking Parameters | Digital Marketing Apprenticeship Tips

by
Digital Marketing Apprenticeship Tips | How to Use UTM Parameters

UTM tracking parameters are essential for digital marketing apprenticeships. By adding UTM codes to your links, you can track how users are interacting with your content. This data helps you fine-tune your campaigns to make sure your efforts are paying off. In this guide, we’ll explain what a UTM tracking parameter is and where you can use them to improve your marketing strategy. Let’s get started!

An Introduction To Using UTM Tracking Parameters In Your Apprenticeship

UTM tracking gives you a level of accuracy and detail for tracking your traffic. You can track traffic from multiple sources and display the results in Google’s free and familiar Google Analytics dashboard. More importantly, this is a great way to demonstrate your ability when it comes to showcasing the analytics aspect of your digital marketing apprenticeship. 

Set up UTM’s right and you can see how much traffic comes from a specific tweet, or from a specific image in a particular email. From monitoring entire campaigns to A/B testing changes in imagery, placement and copy, UTM tracking provides the depth of detail you need to hit those digital marketing apprenticeship requirements. 

What Is A UTM Parameter?

UTM parameters allow you to track where traffic comes from and how it reaches your site. This is helpful for analysing keywords, conversion rates of ads on different pages in google analytics or even just getting an idea about who’s visiting!

Google will track traffic with cookies – but UTMs allow you to overwrite standard Google tracking with your own, custom tracking, tailored with parameters that exactly fit your needs. Tag your URLs with UTMs and Google will tell you where your traffic came from, which campaign it’s a part of and the route it took to reach you, as well as information about exactly where on a screen your visitors clicked and which keywords are effective.

Digital Marketing Apprenticeship Tips | How to Use UTM Parameters

When To Use UTM Codes During Your Digital Marketing Apprenticeship?

Social

By adding UTM parameters to your social media campaigns you can measure how successful each post was. This can be done by analysing which links created the most click-through traffic to your site in Google Analytics. 

Emails

In emails, you can attach UTM parameters to images or hyperlinked text to track different click-through metrics. As a result of adding UTM parameters, you can measure whether people click the link at the top more than the one included at the bottom of the email, or vice-versa. 

Advertisements

UTMs make it easy to keep a close eye on PPC advertising. This is due to the ability to distinguish between the performance of sidebars and banners, A/B test designs or graphics. 

Anything that involves someone clicking on a link can be tracked with UTMs. For example, print ads can include UTM tracking in the form of QR codes. This analytics data is great for tracking response rates!

The Don’ts of Using UTM Tracking Parameters In Your Apprenticeship

The one place you really don’t want to use UTMs is internal tracking. Every time a link containing an UTM parameter gets clicked, Google flags this visit as new. Therefore, if someone navigates around a few pages on your site using UTM URLs, you can see them in your analytics as multiple, new visitors. The UTMs will also override the original referral data so you’ll still be none the wiser as to the real source of your traffic.

Summing Up UTM Tracking

In conclusion, UTM parameters give you the best of both worlds with their excellent granularity and ability to be utilised across channels. Above all, you have control over how it is logged, which makes reporting on your campaigns easier than ever before! It’s something every digital marketing apprentice should be doing!

Recruitment Consultant Apprenticeship (Level 3) – Match Candidates With Their Dream Job

by
A recruiter is discussing a client’s job opportunity with a potential candidate.

People strive to find their dream job while employers are always on the search for the ideal employee. Play a key part in helping both candidates and employers as a recruitment consultant apprentice. The apprenticeship allows you to develop your organisation and negotiating skills while earning an impressive salary. The best thing is you only need a level 2 in English and Maths to apply for a Level 3 Recruitment Consultant Apprenticeship.

What does a recruitment consultant do?

A recruitment consultant searches out and matches candidates with job opportunities at client organisations. On a day-to-day basis, you would not only seek out potential candidates but also assess their suitability for job openings at your clients’ organisations. As result, developing and maintaining candidate and client relationships are key to your role.

As a recruiter, you can choose to work for specialist sectors, such as an IT job consultancy, or work in-house by becoming an education recruitment consultant. While recruiters work predominantly in the recruitment sector, this business apprenticeship allows you to create your own personal and professional development plan in an industry of your choice.

How much does a recruiter earn?

It’s the question on everybody’s mind and the answer usually depends on the sector you choose to work in and your geographical location. However, a recruitment consultant’s salary averages at £28k per year in the London area. More experienced recruiters can earn a base salary of up to £50k.

A consultant role also means a commission is earned for every successful candidate placement. Commissions can either be a fixed payment or a percentage of what you bring to the company. For both, the commission is paid on top of the base salary, so recruitment consultants can make a lot of money.

A recruitment consultant is sat on sofas with their clients
Learn to maintain client relationships and more with a Level 3 Recruitment Consultant apprenticeship

Key competencies for Level 3 Recruitment Consultant apprentices

The recruitment consultant role is multifaceted. Here are a few examples of key duties that need to be carried out along with core technical skills and behavioural attributes that will aid a trainee to achieve these:

Establish and negotiate terms and conditions with clients:

  • Build client relationships that ensure a profitable outcome
  • Doesn’t shy away from challenging poor practices
  • Shows tenacity and resilience

Agree and meet job-related key performance indicators (KPIs):

  • Ensure agreed on KPIs, such as calls made, interviews scheduled, people reached out to, are met
  • Seek feedback from both candidates and clients to inform next KPI agreements
  • Self-motivated

Develop and implement a successful sales technique:

  • To ensure continuous improvement, service interviews should be conducted on a regular basis
  • Good at questioning and listening
  • Ambitious, driven and determined

Be aware of and follow legal and ethical processes for both candidates and clients:

  • Advice on legal requirements and employee rights and responsibilities including equality, diversity, and inclusion
  • Complete all aftercare services, including payments
  • If non-compliance occurs, escalate this

Successfully assess people to find the right candidate for clients’ job opportunities:

  • Create a shortlist of suitable candidates to be presented to clients
  • Great organisational skills
  • Confident, assertive, and persuasive communicator

Recruitment consultant knowledge modules and apprentice exams

While earning a great salary and commission, a recruitment consultant apprentice will also gain on-program learning. These help you to understand the key foundations necessary to perform well on the job. To gain your qualification and prove your understanding, you must complete a knowledge and competency qualification as outlined below:

  • One knowledge qualification: Level 3 Certificate in Principles of Recruitment or Level 3 Certificate in Recruitment Practice
  • One competency qualification: Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Recruitment

Progression opportunities for successful recruiter trainees

The recruitment consultant apprenticeship (level 3) is a good job for those looking to kick-start their career in recruitment. The successful completion of this apprenticeship will allow trainees to progress into more senior roles, as outlined in the occupational map, or onto a higher-level qualification, such as the Level 5 Learning and Development Consultant Business Partner apprenticeship. Successful learners will also qualify to register at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals or the Institute of Recruiters.

If you are interested in a Level 3 Recruitment Consultant Apprenticeship, sign up to our newsletter below to get updates on the course and receive a downloadable copy of our interview tips eBook to help you prepare.

Engagement – 5 Ways to Succeed on Social Media

by
Illustration of three people using social media, commenting and liking posts.

Having a strong social media engagement with your audience is more important now than ever before especially with the younger generation. This means having meaningful connections with your customers both new and existing.

But in a world where almost everyone is online how do you bring the right attention to your brand? Read on to find out how interacting with your customers on social media can benefit your business.

What is social media engagement?

Social media engagement is the measurement of responses you receive. Although a big number of followers and likes is good, the emphasis should be on the quality of engagement. Are your followers having a positive experience? Are they engaging with your content and sharing it with others?

The most common metrics are the number of likes and comments but there are a number of metrics you can use:

  • Shares and retweets
  • comments
  • likes
  • saves
  • mentions
  • use of branded hashtags
  • click-throughs 

It is important to track a variety of metrics as different platforms will have different engagement features. Having more than one KPI for social media engagement can also help you pinpoint what areas you can improve and what content may need some changes from the way users are interacting with it.

Now you know what it is, here are the 5 easy ways to increase your engagement rate:

Set your engagement goals

Before hitting post you need to decide what it is you want to achieve. The motivations for engagement will differ based on your business goals. If the goal is to increase traffic on your website the focus could be to increase the number of click throughs to the webpage. If your business wanted to collect feedback on a new product the strategy could be a poll asking your followers for their preferences.

Get to know your audience

To communicate effectively with your target audience you need to understand their wants, needs, and interests. Find out what platforms they use the most and if certain topics interest them more. Have a look at the trending hashtags and what your followers are talking about. This knowledge can help you to create content relevant and valuable to your audience.

Experiment with content

There are so many different types of content you can share on social media. Try different formats and make sure to analyse the results to find what works best for you. When creating the content take into account the context and your audience. For instance, if you are a cosmetics brand perhaps you could post a makeup tutorial and add a link to your website for viewers to purchase the products used. Not only would this increase your engagement rate via the click-throughs or ‘swipe ups’ but also could lead to an increase in conversion rate.

Here are some creative formats to try:

  • Live video
  • Instagram reels
  • Polls & Surveys
  • Q & A
  • Memes
  • Infographics
  • Customer reviews
  • TikTok 

A brand that has a great social media presence and engagement is Nike. Their Instagram features a wide variety of content from short interviews with athletes, encouraging their followers to comment or tag their friends and to click the link in their bio for more information or to purchase a new collection. Check out their Instagram page for some inspiration.

Respond

To have strong customer relationships you need to get involved in the conversation. Be reactive to direct messages, mentions, and comments promptly and keep the conversations going.

It’s a good idea to have a community guideline on responses to ensure they are in line with your brand’s tone of voice and values. This will help when facing negative comments and having pre-composed responses for common queries can save you some time.

Review the engagement data regularly

Social media platforms have analytic tools for you to measure the success of your social media marketing strategies and campaigns. Take full advantage of these tools and regularly audit the analytics.

Compare the data to past months and see if there were any trends or patterns. Maybe there was an event that had an impact on your brand’s engagement?

Three colleagues analysing a data report

Have a look at the data and ask yourself these questions:

  • Which post got the most engagement?
  • Was there any platforms that had very low rates?
  • Which platform drove the most traffic to the site?

Conclusion

Having social media as one of your channels for digital marketing will greatly benefit your business. To ensure you are getting the most out of the platforms engage with your customers by interacting with them, sharing valuable content they will be interested in and remember to set clear goals and track the results.