IT services group EDS last week justified its decision to take on
school-leaver trainees when 51 young people completed their
three-year apprenticeships and were presented with National
Vocational Qualifications, writes John Kavanagh.
The success of the company's break with its tradition of only
taking graduates into trainee jobs is reflected in the fact that it
has increased its intake of raw recruits aged between 16 and 20 by
150 since that first group in 1997 - it is aiming to recruit
another 130 this year alone. EDS has 13,700 UK staff and takes on
between 300 and 500 new graduates a year.
EDS' initial intake of 51 apprentices was one of the first and
certainly the biggest group in the UK to get into IT via the Modern
Apprenticeship scheme set up by the government in the mid-1990s.
Other companies running similar schemes include Norwich Union, Bull
and, recently, IBM.
Employers and individuals commit themselves for three years,
with the aim of achieving the level three National Vocational
Qualification. Employers receive about £2,500 per person, but the
apprentices are treated and paid as permanent staff. They typically
get training on the job and through day release to local
colleges.
"We have a huge spectrum of work and we saw that we didn't need
graduates for all of it," says EDS director Alan Stevens, who
introduced the scheme at the company and presented the certificates
to the first group at a special event last week.
"We've been very, very pleased with the initiative. The people
are assigned to account teams to do real work from day one. They do
testing, operations, Web site design - and we now have hard-bitten
project leaders asking for them to be assigned to their teams."
This is not just because the apprentices are cheaper than other
staff, Stevens insists, "Team leaders look for an overall balance
of skills and personalities and they recognise the value the young
people bring."
The new recruits need a minimum set of GCSEs and the right
aptitude and attitude to work in IT. These are tested with written
exams and interviews.
Each recruit gets a mentor, typically a young colleague, and a
formal assessor.
"There is a bit of an issue initially among staff about having
to look after them," Stevens says. "Some of the issues are
different to those involved with mentoring graduates - many
apprentices are minors, so project teams have to be careful about
taking them to the pub, for example."
Stevens says there has been no shortage of applicants, but he is
concerned that only 29 of the 201(14%) taken on so far have been
female.
"We're trying to get a gender balance but girls just aren't
applying," he says. "IT still has an image problem among young
women."
Now that the group have finished the apprenticeships EDS
"absolutely wants them to stay for long-term careers". Stevens says
they could get to the level of the 1997 graduate intake in six to
12 months.