Eileen Girling, Regional HR Director at Crown Worldwide, has recently overseen the introduction of the Crown Aspire programme and believes apprenticeships offer an exciting future both for the business and for young people.

According to Eileen Girling, anyone who thinks that apprenticeships are all about finding a teenager to make the tea and tick a compliance box really should think again. “What we’ve found is that the focus is more on developing future leaders,” she said. “Our scheme, for instance, is not about raw 16-year-olds – we’re looking for apprentices with at least three Cs at A Level who are seeking career development. In fact, apprenticeships are rapidly becoming seen as a valid alternative to university - a way of identifying and developing future leaders – and that’s exciting.”

From September, Crown Worldwide will be taking on six apprentices on two-year rotational positions across the business, working primarily in project management. The company has also developed, with its museum and gallery clients, a new industry standard for apprentices in its Crown Fine Art business.

“These standards have been set with clients such as the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge and that’s really important,” said Eileen. “On top of that, the Apprentice Levy is also allowing us to develop our existing staff.  We have been able to offer professional team leader qualification courses to 12 of our current employees - to be completed over the next 18 months – and also team leader courses to some of our sales staff. It is another example of how a greater focus on apprenticeship is benefitting the business as a whole and I would have no hesitation in recommending apprenticeship schemes to other companies.”

Photo: Eileen Girling