With the sixth series of TV hit show Mad Men confirmed recently in the United States, more young people than ever are interested in a career in advertising which has resulted in record applications for McCann Manchester’s second intake of apprentices after the success with the scheme last year.
The agency has just taken on its six new apprentices as part their major ‘Talent Tree’ programme to attract, retain and develop talent within the business, two more than last year.
The scheme was first launched 18 months ago with a focus on school and college leavers and saw four apprentices taken on. Since then, the four apprentices, Lucy Holland-Jones, Chris Davies, Andrew Robinson and Lewis Munro have all been given full time roles within the agency as they continue with their studies.
The McCann Manchester scheme continues to operate in partnership 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 marketing communications industry.
Max Gordon, Steven Perrin, Jessica Mathers, Amy Mayers, Ben Whatson and John Coulson will spend two months in six key departments at the agency’s Bonis Hall offices, learning how each team works and getting a good grounding in the principles of marketing to help kick start their career.
The training will give each apprentice a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship including an NVQ in Marketing and the CIM Introductory Certificate in Marketing.
With all 131 universities and colleges in England now charging up to £9,000 in annual tuition fees apprenticeships offer an alternative way to get the skills needed to break into creative industries.
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 and based on our first year’s intake it has been a stunning success. We’ve found four incredibly talented individuals who are already making a key contribution to the business and moving forward we’ve been lucky enough to find another six like-minded individuals for this year’s intake”
“The creative industries are starting to offer more and more apprenticeships, and we’re very proud of being the UK’s first agency to offer an integrated marketing communications apprenticeship combining all core marketing disciplines which are all here at Bonis Hall.
As well as to securing the prestigious IPA Gold award and being recognised as one of Britain’s Top Employers for the third year running, the agency has also been shortlisted for the TJ Awards for the ‘Best UK Apprenticeship Programme’. The TJ Awards are recognised as the premier Training and Learning & Development event for the UK.
Sue Little, Chief Executive of McCann Manchester said: “Talent is so important to us – our business is built on it. Continuous learning and development initiatives are at the heart of our people strategy and one of the high profile cornerstones to our programme is our apprenticeship scheme.”
McCann Manchester is the largest integrated marketing services agency outside London employing more than 280 people working in creative, digital, SEO and PPC, media planning and buying, insight, PR, social media and data and analytics.
Its clients include Aldi, CrossCountry Trains, Shire Pharmaceuticals and American Airlines and the agency sees talent development at the heart of its growth plans for 2012/13. The scheme is part of McCann’s ‘Talent Tree’ initiative launched in 2010, which aims to recruit, retain and develop talent across the agency.