Businesses and Employers
Equipping your staff with professional, personal and technical skills is key to a thriving business in today’s competitive market.
Apprenticeships are the perfect solution to bridge skills gaps, combat issues such as an ageing workforce and inject eager, motivated, flexible and loyal individuals into your business. They are a unique way to develop the expertise you need now and in the future.
Dearne Valley College works in partnership with RNN Group to deliver Apprenticeships and training solutions to help your business succeed.
RNN Group has an excellent reputation in providing training for business and one of its many strengths is its ability to design customised training programmes to be delivered at a time and a place to suit your individual business needs.
Working with businesses and employers
We work with businesses of all sizes, from international organisations to sole traders and everything in between. If you are a business or local employer you’re in the right place.
Employer Promise
Our Employer Promise campaign asks local businesses to pledge whatever they can to ensure school and college leavers in our community are given the opportunity to retain, and gain, skills required for them to successfully gain employment.
You can pledge your support in a number of ways, such as:
- Take on an apprentice when you are able to
- Deliver a talk to current students about your industry
- Set a brief for our learners to work on
- Host a site visit and give our students a glimpse of what the day-to-day looks like in
your industry - Provide work experience or an industry placement to a student
- Sponsor, or participate in, an Employer Academy
The benefits to you
By pledging your support and offering opportunities to our students you will not only expose your business to young, ambitious and talented students who are looking for a career with a business like yours, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with our Colleges to ensure we’re teaching the skills your industry needs.
If you can offer work experience or carefully planned industry placements you can give your business a short-term capacity boost, at no cost, and work with eager, work-ready young people who bring enthusiasm and fresh eyes to your business.
Or, if you’ve never considered taking on an apprentice before, now could be the time to do it. Employers who have an established apprenticeship programme report that productivity in the workplace improved by 76%, whilst 3 out of 4 businesses report that apprenticeships improve the quality of their product or service.
Make your pledge
Jamie Smith, C-Learning“Working closely and collaboratively with the College will allow us to access talented work-ready individuals who possess the skills the technology industry needs.”
Employer Academies
Employer Academies enable learners, educators and employers to identify collectively the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours which are essential for success in your industry.
This collaboration will allow you to influence our curriculum in order to develop the practical skills and experience that you want, and need, from your employees.
When you sponsor an Employer Academy you can lead a number of activities for our learners including; masterclasses, workshops, site visits, volunteering opportunities and industry placements. Alternatively, you can run projects and competitions that our learners can take part in, testing their knowledge and skills in a real business context.
You will also have the opportunity to recruit from our pool of talented and ambitious learners after you’ve seen for yourself the skills and abilities each of our students can offer your business.
Sponsor an Employer Academy
When you register as a sponsor of an Academy you will pledge your support based on the capacity and commitment that suits your organisation.
As well as influencing our curriculums and learning outcomes for your industry sector you can choose from a range of options including:
Mentoring
Mentors act as role models to shape the future career of learners and inspire them to progress; whether that’s into further study or employment. Our employer mentors are offered full mentor training to help develop their own understanding of what it means to develop a learner.
Mentoring sessions can take place by phone, email, face-to-face or online, and are designed to help partners in supporting learners to understand the skills, knowledge and behaviours expected of them when they enter employment within your industry.
Guest speaker slots
Deliver a guest speaker slot to an audience of learners interested in a career within your industry.
Our learners are looking for an insight into your industry, or into the requirements for a specific role within the sector. You can choose whether to speak at a lecture to a large audience, a small group talk or a round table discussion.
Host a visit
This is your chance to open up your business and show our learners behind the scenes.
As well as a chance to showcase a workplace you’re proud of, you can inspire future job applications and set-out the expectations for behaviours in the workplace.
Set an Industry Brief
Work collaboratively with our curriculum staff to develop the high-level thinking and problem-solving skills that learners will need to demonstrate in the workplace through setting real business projects, challenges and competitions.
You can set tasks that are completed in College, in a work environment, or out in the community, with an end goal of having genuine benefit to your company long after the project has been completed.
Offer industry placements
Industry placements are a great way to develop your prospective future workforce.
You’ll receive fresh insight into your organisation through well-planned placements, based on meaningful tasks that support your business. At the same time, you will be providing our learners with the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and practical skills, ensuring they are ready to enter the world of work and can complete their studies to a high level.
Educator placements
In addition to learner placements, employers can also benefit from hosting educator placements whereby our staff will work with or shadow your employees.
These opportunities help to maintain the dual professionalism of our educators, who often started their career in industry, through refreshing their knowledge and skills so that this translates into their curriculum design and delivery.
How will my organisation benefit?
As an Academy Sponsor you can access a range of training and promotional opportunities:
- Online staff training packages
We can provide flexible online training packages to your organisation covering key business topics including GDPR, Equality and Diversity, Safeguarding, British Values and Prevent. - Webinars supporting student experience
Learn more about target setting, coaching techniques and how to provide constructive feedback. - Promotion of your organisation
Attend College open events, careers activities and parents’ evenings to outline your organisation and the career pathways available. We’ll also promote your involvement in the Academies on our College websites and social media channels.
Testimonials
Steve Copley, Europa Engineering, Employer Academy Sponsor, Engineering“Our work placement student listened, took on board and applied the instructions and advice being passed on. They fitted into the daily routine with ease and were enthusiastic about all the tasks set.”
Jackie Freeborn, Ambition Rotherham, Championing business in Rotherham“Employer Academies are all about setting learners up properly for the world of work. There is sometimes a gap between expectations at work and what is taught. The Academies are about building a bridge and making the world of work relevant to current learners.”
Academy Sponsors
We are proud to work with a range of local and national employers to ensure that we can help plug the skills gap in our local communities.
Our academy sponsors include:
- South Electrical
- Ye Olde Bell
- C-Learning
How to get involved
If you are interested in learning more about sponsoring an Employer Academy, or would be interested in joining an existing academy, please contact our Employer Engagement Team on 01909 504777 or email enquiries@rnngroup.ac.uk.
Apprentice recruitment
Apprentices play a vital role in many workforces. If you’d like to explore the possibility of an apprenticeship, we can help guide you through the whole process including:
- Advising whether an apprenticeship would be the right fit for your business
- Recruitment
- Off-the-job training
- Mentoring help and guidance for your team member responsible for the apprentice
- Advice and guidance on the end-point assessment
For more information contact: enquiries@rnngroup.ac.uk or call 01709 513147.
Steve Copley, Europa Engineering“Our work placement student listened, took on board and applied the instructions and advice being passed on. They fitted into the daily routine with ease and were enthusiastic about all the tasks set.”
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE)
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) occupational maps shows where technical education can lead.
Click the image below to take a closer look or follow the link to explore the routes further on the IfATE website.
Industry placements and work experience
Our aim is for each of our learners to leave college work-ready, which is why we work with local employers to provide industry placements and work experience.
Industry placements are a short-term commitment between employers and students that see our students complete a work placement of 315-hours (40 days) within your business. This can be in one ‘block’ placement or split over a number of weeks to suit you. You are not required, or expected, to pay the student during their placement, although many employers do choose to help with travel costs.
Industry placements are a fantastic way for your business to:
- Help nurture and develop talent
- Increase capacity
- Bring in extra resource for specific projects
- Bring in people with imaginative, new ideas and different skills
We’ll work with you to identify the right student from the right course, to undertake a placement with your business. Students will be from our Level 2 and 3 courses and will be specifically chosen based on your industry. Students can transfer to an apprenticeship at any time.
We’ll ensure that our student knows the levels of professionalism and conduct that is expected of them on their placement and will be on-hand to offer support and guidance to both employers and students throughout the placement.
A Skills and Employability Tutor will also be on hand to develop the student’s employability skills and coordinate their attendance with you.
Students may support you with:
- Practical tasks under supervision
- Shadow and assist skilled staff
- Support specific projects
- Help with administration
Employer Support Fund
We’re working with the Department for Education to offer grants of up to £750 to cover the costs of Industry Placements for our students.
Receiving the grant:
- Before our students can begin a work placement we will need to complete a health and safety assessment and receive a copy of the relevant insurance certificates
- The College will complete all relevant paperwork
- You will receive 50% of the grant at the start of the placement and 50% once the placement is complete
- The grant can only be used on cost associated with the placement such as time spent training, additional equipment required and any pre-placement training
However, if you can’t commit to an industry placement, you could consider a shorter period of work experience, where our learners will join you for a shorter period depending on your requirements.
Through offering these programmes you raise awareness of your business to our pool of talented learners who will be looking to join a business like yours when they complete their qualifications.
For more information, contact our employer engagement: enquiries@rnntraining.co.uk or call 01709 513147 or 01909 504777.
Developing your staff with training courses
Your staff are your greatest asset. Providing them with quality training and development will not only make them more efficient, but will also make them less likely to leave as they feel valued and motivated.
Our business training courses are often fully funded and are ideal for updating knowledge and upskilling staff. From specialist subjects such as Health and Safety and First Aid to distance learning, we have a whole range of courses to suit the needs of your business.
Lee Firth, ENGIE“It really feels like our input can help design a curriculum that meets our business needs – it’s good to bring together the academic knowledge of the College with our industry knowledge. We get an idea of what is happening in education and can begin to plan for the skills needs of our business and potential new apprentices.”