Father and son highlight benefits of apprenticeships (From The Northern Echo)

Father and son highlight benefits of apprenticeships

8:00am Thursday 16th February 2012 in North-East Business News By Andy Richardson

A PROUD father has hailed the importance of apprenticeships after seeing his son join him at a North-East technology firm.

ITPS operations director Paul Anderson recalled organising his own informal job training when he was trying to get a foothold on the careers ladder 30 years ago, and he feared this generation faces a similar struggle.

The challenge in front of many young jobseekers across the region was highlighted by yesterday's unemployment figures which showed a 73,000 rise over the past year among 16 and 24 year-olds, taking the jobless total to 1.04 million. Some 246,000 young people have been out of work for a year or more.

Among those with brighter prospects are four youngsters at Gateshead-based ITPS who have been offered permanent jobs as first response engineers after successfully completing a two year apprenticeship course at the firm. Two more young people, including Paul's son Jack, have been given a place on the scheme, which has been running for eight years and helped more than 20 people kick start their IT career.

Paul called on more North-East businesses to support young people into work. "It's shocking that about one million people under 25 are unemployed, and businesses have a responsibility to make sure they are not on the scrap heap before they even get started," he said.

"Apprenticeships are a long term commitment for us, the business is ten years old and we started the scheme in our second year. As a successful operation we want to give young people in our region the chance to develop skills and confidence, and get them started on the career ladder. "It's a good move for them, and for our business. By constantly adding new talent into our staff pool we maintain the skilled and motivated workforce that helps us grow," he said.

Run in partnership with training provider ITEC the firm's scheme lets the apprentices work alongside experienced engineers in combination with classroom training.

"This gives them a bird's eye view of the business and its clients, and stands them in good stead as they progress," added Paul.

"Thirty years ago I started my working life right at the bottom, and because there were no formal apprenticeships available to me I put myself through college as well as holding down several jobs.

"I know the value of a chance like this and the difference it can make, and I'm very pleased to see my own son join our training scheme. "He won his place on merit and there will be no special advantages - not that he expects them - he'll be treated just the same as any other member of the team. As his Dad I'm very proud of him but to be honest he probably sees me being here as a drawback, rather than an advantage." ITPS offers IT consultancy, implementation, data centre provision and unified communications, as well as workspace and disaster recovery. Last year it invested £500,000 in its data centres in Sunderland, Newcastle and Gateshead, giving clients faster access to data.