Students inspired to take up a career in advertising by the likes of TV series Madmen are having their career dreams come true thanks to leading integrated marketing communications agency McCann Manchester.
The agency has just taken on its first four apprentices as part their major ‘Talent Tree’ programme to attract, retain and develop talent within the business.
The launch of the scheme comes less than a week after Nicola Mendelsohn president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) called for the advertising industry to work with higher and further education institutions to develop talent. Mendelsohn made her comments to industry peers at an event at the Ravensbourne Skillset Media Academy.
The McCann Manchester scheme has been several months in the planning and sees the agency link up with the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and nearby East Cheshire Business School at Macclesfield College to offer a 12 month Advanced Apprenticeship programme aimed at 16 to 24 year olds hoping to break into the industry.
Lucy Holland-Jones, Chris Davies, Andrew Robinson, Lewis Munro [details below]will spend two months in six key departments at Bonis Hall, learning how each team works, with the chance to secure a permanent role at the end of their course.
The training will give each candidate a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship including an NVQ in Marketing and the CIM Introductory Certificate in Marketing.
With all 123 universities and colleges in England planning to charge tuition fees of £6,000 or more from 2012 and rising youth unemployment, apprenticeships offer an alternative, more affordable, way to get the skills needed to break into creative industries like advertising.
Darren Minshall, Talent and Development Director at McCann Manchester, said: “We’re a creative business, so we looked for a creative solution to bring young, vibrant and diverse talent into our business. We want to hear what 16 to 24 year olds have to say – this age group is the future of our business.”
“The traditional image of creative industries hasn’t matched up with the stereotypical image of a manual labour Apprenticeship in the past but times have changed.
“This is a great start for anybody interested in a career in Marketing and Communications and a great opportunity for us to spot new talent early and nurture it.
Sue Price, Regional Director for National Apprenticeship Service in the North West said: “This is a fantastic example of apprenticeships in the creative and cultural sector, a sector in which we are proactively encouraging more employers to recruit apprentices.”
McCann Manchester is the largest marketing services agency outside London employing 250 people working in creative, digital, media planning and buying, insight, PR, social media, data and finance.
Its clients include Aldi, London 2012 and American Airlines and the agency sees talent development at the heart of its growth plans for 2011. The scheme is the latest initiative from McCann’s ‘Talent Tree’ initiative launched last year, which aims to recruit, retain and develop talent across the agency.
Meet McCann Manchester’s new apprentices:
- Lucy Holland-Jones, 18, from Macclesfield, has 4 AS levels and 3 A levels including media studies. Lucy impressed us with her confidence, enthusiasm for all media channels and her absolute dedication to undertaking an apprenticeship and just start getting stuck in!
- Chris Davies, 18, from Prestbury, has 3 AS levels and 3 A levels in non-advertising related subjects however his extra-curricular activities convinced us of his suitability for a place on the scheme. He has a huge passion for digital technology and presented a short film as part of the recruitment process, all shot and edited in his bedroom.
- Andrew Robinson has an impressive 16 GCSE’s under his belt, along with 3 AS levels geared towards a career in media. Naturally very curious about technology and software, Andrew also demonstrated refreshing self awareness during the recruitment process, presenting a song he’d written to counteract any first impressions we may have about him being reserved!
- Lewis Munro, 19, from Lincoln, has studied a BTEC in Graphic Design and has 8 GCSE’s. He’s been freelancing since 2009 and has designed c. 17 websites. His success is such that he ended up sub-contracting the coding element, sourcing suitable developers from as far afield as the US. Having teased us with a direct mail campaign over 5 days in the run up to meeting him, Lewis in person did not disappoint. Having achieved so much in such a short space of time, we had no hesitation in offering Lewis a place.