Apprenticeships: skills for life

Apprenticeships combine training with work, meaning you’ll be paid whilst learning and completing your apprenticeship qualification. As an apprentice you’ll learn and develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for a specific job role, while making lots of important contacts and learning about the wider business at the same time.

Apprenticeships are structured to incorporate a variety of ways to learn. As an apprentice you’ll gain on-the-job training, facilitated learning (usually through an education centre such as a college, university or independent training provider) and self-directed learning.

Depending on the level of apprenticeship that you choose, it can take anywhere from one year to five years to complete your apprenticeship. 

An apprenticeship can help you to develop the skills and knowledge required for a successful and rewarding career and can bring many additional benefits.

Not only will you earn a wage while learning but you’ll also gain practical and relevant work experience in a business and industry that you’re in. This means you’ll be developing the skills that employers really want and gaining valuable experience.

Many apprentices find that completing an apprenticeship helps boost their long-term career prospects and earning potential. In fact, at E.ON we’ve found that the careers of apprentices develop faster than their peers. 

We’re currently facing a future skills gap where we’ll see a notable difference between the skills needed to do a job and the people available to fulfil these roles. And with this trend set to continue and accelerate, many businesses are considering how to address this future skills shortage.

Apprenticeships are an investment and can help businesses develop the workforce of the future with skills that can be embedded into the workforce today.

At E.ON, we’ve experienced many benefits from our apprenticeship programme, including:

• Higher gender diversity
• Better work attendance
• Increased productive capability
• Lower unplanned attrition

What’s more, this isn’t just about bringing new talent into a business, but apprenticeships can help to develop your existing employees too.

At E.ON, we promote internal development and currently have over 50 existing colleagues starting on an apprenticeship programme, including nine new and unique qualifications. 

Our apprenticeships are focused on ensuring our apprentices develop the future skills needed to thrive. We currently have more than 200 apprentices on over 50 different schemes and offer apprenticeships at all levels, including degree apprenticeships such as Engineering, Project Management and Supply Chain Leadership..

We also offer apprenticeships in customer service, accountancy, HR, legal and cyber security so you’re bound to find something you’re interested in building a career in.

At E.ON, we ensure our apprenticeships are delivered by best-in-class providers and work with more than 20 different training providers to offer our apprenticeships. And we’ve been named one of the Top 100 apprenticeship employers in the UK by Rate My Apprenticeship. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about an apprenticeship at E.ON, visit our Early Careers webpage.