At Aspire, we recognise that apprenticeships are playing a vital role in shaping the future of the UK’s workforce, and we believe our apprenticeship scheme is also paramount to shaping our early talent pipeline vision.
Over the last 2 years, Aspire has welcomed 28 apprentices across many functions of the business including our service desk, product team, finance and project management. Many of these apprentices are already progressing and flourishing during their time at Aspire. As well as different functions, our apprentices are based in various offices in our Gateshead, Glasgow and Leeds locations.
“We have a phenomenal programme for the development of our future talent, I’m really excited about it. Our programme enables our apprentices to gain hands-on experience within their functions, building a pool of diverse, qualified and skilled individuals who have access to clear career progression pathways as Aspire continues to grow.”
Chris Fraser
CEO – Aspire Technology Solutions
We have encouraged apprentices for many years, many of whom are now thriving in their careers still with Aspire. This National Apprenticeship Week we want to celebrate and acknowledge many individuals such as Josh Nichols, who joined Aspire as an Apprentice in 2021 as a Quick Fix Apprentice within our service desk.
Josh, who became a 1st Line Network Engineer, and is now a DevOps Engineer, explains:
“From starting my apprenticeship it was immediately noticeable how closely integrated we all were with the rest of the team and other parts of the business. I was able to use what I was learning during my time of Quick Fix to accelerate my coursework. Memorable moments involved being included in conversations within team meetings to brainstorm new ideas we would then go onto use in practice, it was great to feel part of a high-functioning team“.
Amongst many other stories of success, Craig Speirs, who began his apprenticeship in September 2024 in Quick Fix within our Glasgow office, showed an interest in moving into a field role. We were able to make this possible, and he is now completing his apprenticeship gaining valuable experience out in the field as well as utilising his skills already developed within Quick Fix.
We hope this paves the way, showing our recent 8 apprentices, who joined in our 2025 January cohort the many fantastic and inspiring opportunities ahead. Tom Upton, who joined as a Technical Apprentice in our September 2024 cohort, explains below how he has enjoyed his first 4 months of his apprenticeship.
As well as becoming an integrated part of our team, our new apprentice cohorts also participate in weekly workshops with Mark Bennett, our People Development Partner, focusing on their soft, competency-based skills, which are key for their future careers.
Mark explains, “Our apprenticeship skills programme helps them develop crucial workplace skills through interactive group sessions. We focus on practical skills like communication, organisation, teamwork and resilience, culminating in an off-site project where they can apply what they’ve learnt. This runs alongside technical training provided by our Microsoft Certified Trainer, Sam Thompson. We aim to run cohorts for our apprenticeship intake in January, May and September each year.”
We want to use this week to celebrate our success and showcase the career opportunities available at Aspire for those joining as apprentices. If you would like to know more about our apprenticeships, get in touch with [email protected]
