Apprenticeship jobs as part of Covid recovery

Workplus has announced 50 apprenticeship opportunities with 40 companies for 2021.

The apprenticeships cover a variety of roles across a number of sectors including civil engineering, quantity surveying, IT and administration. Companies offering apprenticeships include AECOM, Farrans, Greiner, Liberty IT and Tobermore.

Workplus, a Belfast-based company, makes it easier for employers to find apprentices by providing a single place for applicants to apply, as well as ensuring a simple, thorough selection process for employers.

Part of this employer demand has come through the Department for Economy’s Apprenticeship Challenge Fund, which enabled a collaboration between Workplus and Manufacturing NI. This collaboration will support the creation of further apprenticeship opportunities in the manufacturing sector. The Department for the Economy’s Apprenticeship Challenge Fund launched in September 2020 and was designed to support increased participation in the Northern Ireland apprenticeship system.

Jim Wilkinson, Director of Apprenticeships, Careers and Vocational Education at the Department for the Economy, said: “Apprentices have undoubtedly been affected by the current Covid 19 pandemic but they remain a critical component of our economic recovery. The announcement by Workplus is an indication that the Department’s package of interventions to minimise apprenticeship job losses, maintain and grow the supply of apprenticeship opportunities and support apprentices who have been displaced and lost their apprenticeship are working.”

Workplus Director, Richard Kirk, explained: “We are pleased to be announcing these opportunities in various sectors and companies across Northern Ireland. They reflect a confidence going forward into 2021, and give school leavers and those wishing to retrain hope that there are jobs and new opportunities available which combine earning and learning.

“Workplus exists to bring together employers and apprentices on one platform and simplify the application and appointment process. Apprenticeships are the purest form of collaboration between employers, government and education providers and, I believe, will be integral to our economic recovery from the impact of the pandemic.”

Mary Meehan, Deputy CEO at Manufacturing NI, added: “We are pleased to be partnering with Workplus through the DfE’s Apprenticeship Challenge Fund to create apprenticeship opportunities within the manufacturing sector. Apprenticeships are important to Northern Ireland and vital to our economic recovery.”

Applications open on Monday, January 18 and close at the end of February. Details can be found at Workplus.app.

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