Retailer Sainsbury’s, bookmakers Ladbrokes and telecoms provider Everything Everywhere (EE) are together pledging to take on more than 1,000 apprentices as part of new and extended apprenticeship recruitment campaigns.

The sixth annual National Apprenticeship Week, co-ordinated by the government’s National Apprenticeships Service (NAS), ends today. According to the NAS, firms from across the country have pledged to recruit more than 13,600 apprentices nationally over the past week.

EE

The firm says it will recruit 500 apprentices by 2015, who will join EE customer and retail teams across the UK on a 15-month apprenticeship programme. One hundred of these will be made available in the retail division by the end of the year.

The scheme sees apprentices spend one day a fortnight at college.

Five out of the company’s six contact centres are in areas of particularly high youth unemployment, with Jackie O’Leary, EE’s chief customer officer, saying: “Big businesses should play a central role in providing employment opportunities and training up tomorrow’s talent.”

EE has to date recruited 101 apprentices into its customer team, 90% of whom are under 22, with a quarter aged 16 or 17. The firm says it “plans to offer the majority full-time employment after their 15 month apprenticeship is completed”.

Ladbrokes

Following two successful pilot apprenticeship schemes in the South Coast and the Midlands, which saw 50 apprentices start work last November, the company is to launch its apprenticeships nationally.

The company is setting a target of 200 apprentices by the end of the year, with opportunities in South Yorkshire, Scotland and London now available.

Apprentices will be trained through Ladbrokes’ ‘Get Set!’ training programme, and will also be given a Ladbrokes-developed course on responsible gambling.

Ladbrokes has also supplied funding for two full-time counsellors to extend support to local unemployed families in the Dearne Valley area of South Yorkshire, under the Family Employment Initiative, where it has already supported a new employment services operated by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Sainsbury’s

The supermarket is creating 400 apprenticeships over the coming year in a new year-long Advanced Apprenticeship (Level 3) scheme called ‘You Can Be a Team Leader’.

The scheme will see participants qualify for a full-time, team leader role.

The company expects most of its large stores to recruit one apprentice apiece. Applicants cannot hold any qualifications higher than GCSEs.