A leading telecoms and IT firm and its newly appointed apprentice have been chosen to represent a government campaign that aims to encourage businesses to employ more people on apprenticeships.
PureComms senior directors and young apprentice Matthew Thomas were selected for the ‘Get in Go Far’ campaign that is calling on young people to start their career by choosing an apprenticeship.
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and Cabinet Office were keen to feature local businesses that could form part of a national campaign; and selected PureComms due to its regional success and commitment to developing apprentices.
The campaign is part of government’s commitment to creating three million apprenticeship starts by 2020.
Matthew, who is 19 and originally from Preston, will work at PureComms for 15 months as a Business Admin apprentice. He will work across the sales, marketing and operations teams within the business.
As part of the government drive to raise awareness of the campaign, the Cabinet Office South West interviewed and filmed Matthew and two of the directors at PureComms, in order to create a video that will be live and circulated to businesses in the region in October 2016.
Jane Vivian, Business Development Director at PureComms, comments: “Matthew has brought a fresh set of ideas and approach to doing things, specifically to do with marketing and social media, which we are benefitting from as a business.
“Having an apprentice gives us the opportunity to bring someone into the business without any preconceived ideas on how things should be done. The company has a strong ethos around customer service so being able to develop someone around that ethos from day one is really positive.”
Rob Vivian, CEO at PureComms, comments: “I find that the education route doesn’t suit everyone. From my personal experience, I started university but decided not to finish it – I just wanted to go out and start working. I began my career with on the job training so after speaking to the local college and meeting our current apprentice, it was all a perfect fit. The aspect of being able to learn on the job here at PureComms suited our apprentice and his personality.”
Rob continues: “I do still think there is also a bit of disconnect between what government is saying and what some schools are doing on the ground. There is still lots of emphasis placed on going to university and, whilst it can’t be said for all of the teachers, many at secondary school don’t seem to be well briefed when it comes to apprenticeships and therefore don’t invest time to champion this career path.”
Adam Powell, Skills Director at WOE LEP, comments: “It’s great to see PureComms and Matthew have been highlighted for this campaign. This shows that apprenticeships aren’t just for hairdressers, electricians and those in the hospitality sector but also for young people wanting to work in technology or other business sectors. It also demonstrates that apprenticeships are just as applicable to SMEs as they are to the larger, established businesses.”
PureComms has been in business for almost seven years and has two offices, one just outside of Bristol and one in St Austell in Cornwall.
The business works with a number of high-profile clients including Bristol Airport, Bonhams, Cooperative, BWOC, Opus, Computerworld and Redrock Consulting.
