Insights into Apprenticeships

As part of Scottish Apprenticeships Week, Dundee based Insights Group are working with a team of young people who are pioneering Scotland’s first ever enterprise apprenticeship scheme.

The ApprenticeshipsinScotland.com project is a pioneering approach to youth employment which employs young people to start and grow new projects, new businesses and create opportunities for other young people. The project’s founder believes that his approach of focussing on personal development and enterprise learning has been a critical success factor and should be more widely considered.

Ronnie Davidson, started the scheme in 2011 said that “Insights are world leaders in improving business effectiveness through people relationships. It is a real coup for youth employment in Scotland that they are providing support and weight to the importance of the relationship between young people and employers when we know it is critical to the personal, organisational and national success of apprentice and trainee programmes”.

The apprentices have all taken part in Insights Discovery which helps to identify and share strengths, guide personal development and remove barriers to communication.

Elaine Macdonald from Insights said “I got a real sense that this is going to be incredibly useful for the project and will enable those involved to work better as a team. Brining young people into a business can be a challenge but by starting with an enhanced understanding of each other it can quickly become very rewarding for everyone involved”. 

In the last 12 months the project has employed 5 young people and has helped to place around 2,500 others into employment through an online recruitment and consultancy service which specialises in youth labour market solutions. Even more impressive is that this has been achieved without any public or private investment.

According to apprentice Nicola England (17) “I was nervous about taking part in Insights Discovery and with this being my first job it feels a bit awkward talking to my boss and other members of the team about how I communicate. But it is brilliant and I feel that everyone understands me better which has given me a real boost of confidence at work”.

The Minister for Youth Employment, Angela Constance MSP, visited the project in February and is said to have been highly impressed by what was being achieved.