I was like, 'What do you mean, I can actually work and take some classes?' I didn't even know there were apprenticeships out there, because I thought it was something of the past. That was my dream-to go into some field of engineering-so it was great to find something like AT&T, which has an apprenticeship program where you can jump into it, which later becomes software engineering.
Growing up in Concord, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte, Jacob Palmer was a classic academic achiever. "I was a good student," he said in an interview with Fortune. "In high school, I participated in all types of extracurriculars, student leadership, I did a lot of public speaking. I had all sorts of friends." But he said something changed during the pandemic. "School looked drastically different doing online classes and Zoom calls. It felt very intangible." He said he figured out pretty quickly that online college "didn't work for me. I hated it."
The retailer will spend £70 million of their Levy Share to create around 7,000 apprenticeships over the next five years. The Co-op scheme allows levy paying employees to transfer unused apprenticeship funds for charities and any community organisations. Claire Costello, chief people and inclusion officer at Co-op, said: "We launched Co-op Levy Share to unlock unused levy funds and turn waste into opportunity. "Four years on, alongside our contributing partners, we've already channelled £40 million into thousands of life-changing apprenticeships, and today we're going further, committing £70 million to create 7,000 apprenticeships by 2030."
Employers are rebalancing entry-level recruitment to meet skills demands, reducing graduate vacancies while increasing investment in apprenticeship roles, reports Institute of Student Employers (ISE). The Student Recruitment Survey 2025 of ISE members - large employers offering formal graduate and apprenticeship programmes - found that graduate hiring had fallen by 8% year-on-year, yet apprentice hiring increased by 8%. Graduates still outnumber apprentices and therefore the overall entry-level job market is down 5%.
"A lot of the tradespeople who can train apprentices are sole traders," said Mewett. "The burden of taking on an apprentice is significant, with the paperwork, responsibility, and lack of funding that comes with it. The system just isn't working for small businesses."
Keir Starmer has joined a long line of ministers and prime ministers who have called time on Tony Blair's ambition for half of the nation's young people to go on to higher education. Rishi Sunak, Gavin Williamson and now Starmer have all declared an end to Blair's famous 1999 pledge as a policy priority, and done so on the grounds that the focus on universities has come at the expense of vocational education and training such as apprenticeships.
Publicis's Niel Bornman said advertising rivals were between five and 10 years behind in their adoption of data and AI The world's largest advertising agency is hiring more graduate roles than ever in the face of artificial intelligence's rise, gearing junior training to be more focused on client management, its UK media boss has said, bucking a global slowdown in junior white-collar employment.
This fundraiser is so important to our organization because we do not have a steady stream of state or federal funding, aside from a small reimbursement from our regional center partners, said CAA Executive Director Nicole Kim. We rely heavily on our donors to help keep our programs running so that we can continue to offer equitable lifelong education for adults with IDD.
When I began Cyber Girls First (CGF) in 2014, the figures produced by the industry showed that out of the total employees in the computer and cyber workforce, 8% were women. Eleven years later, the industry has grown exponentially, with 20% of the total being women. They are coming from a variety of backgrounds - graduates in computer science, those who are changing careers, and graduates from sponsored apprenticeships such as Cisco, Rolls Royce and the regional police forces.
"Across the college, learners appreciate the calm and supportive environment that staff create. Learners enjoy studying at the college. They feel safe and can easily identify staff who will help them if they need it."
