The benefits of university degrees in the job market are clear to see, with many employers still seeing them as an entry route into job vacancies.

But with university fees rising and the UK witnessing a skills shortage, apprenticeships could be an avenue that more and more candidates are willing to pursue, especially with the introduction of the new Apprenticeship Levy.

The government is aiming for 3 million apprenticeships by 2020, so there’s clearly a lot to be said for investing in an apprentice scheme. Recent research from CV-Library found that, when questioned about apprenticeships, 81.2% of UK workers believe that apprentices are key to bridging the skills gap.

There are plenty of benefits that an apprenticeship can yield, so ensuring you make use of the apprenticeship levy to its fullest could really help drive your business forward.

Learn on the job

One of the biggest benefits of apprenticeships is gaining real, on the job, experience. While most apprentices will predominantly rely on a large amount of in class training, the opportunity to bring someone into your company to gain hands-on experience will provide a huge benefit in the long-run.

Once the apprenticeship is complete, you’ll not only have an employee who is fully qualified for the job role – they will also have a real working experience your company’s procedures and systems. This means that instead of having to take time to train someone up from scratch, they will be ready to hit the ground running and begin making a huge impact on your company’s direction.

Over half (55.9%) of UK workers surveyed felt that they would have benefited in their industry had they undertaken an apprenticeship. Furthermore, 80.5% of those who have felt that the training had helped them to establish their career.

Clearly, the ability to learn on the job, whilst getting qualified at the same time is a huge benefit to both employer and employee. The employer has the ability to help direct and mould a new talent into the perfect worker for the company, while the employee is able to get involved and get qualified at the same time.

Widening the talent pool

Diversity is key to ensuring a progressive workplace. By bringing in apprentices, you’ll be able to foster a collaborative workplace between a range of workers from different backgrounds.

With a combination of both university-qualified workers and apprentices, you’ll be able to gather a huge range of different approaches and tactics to help benefit the business. This means that the company is likely to have more innovative ideas as different backgrounds and experiences bounce off of one another.

Diversity in the workplace has long been championed as an initiative that can help generate meaningful progress in a company. Bringing in workers with differing backgrounds, including apprenticeships, means that you’ll have a huge range solutions to problems and new ideas to put into action, giving you the edge in the market.

Fostering company loyalty

It goes without saying, but an apprenticeship is an investment in a person. This means that by taking the first step and providing them the training and way into an industry for a young worker, they are likely to feel an affinity towards the company, meaning they are more likely to remain with the business for a long period of time.

With job-hopping becoming the norm amongst millennials, there’s a real challenge for workers to foster a feeling of loyalty towards a company. Retaining staff knowledge and experience is hugely important to the progression of a business. By investing early in someone’s career, you’re likely to see that returned with a longer working career in the company.

Get on board

The government are clearly supporting the use of apprenticeships with the new levy, and the majority of industries will be able to make use of this.

While university degrees will remain a traditional way in to employment, employers should really explore the different avenues available when it comes to bringing in new employees and apprenticeships may be a very lucrative route that businesses will be using in the coming years.