Log InCreate New Account Join for free!
Companies rate apprentices as more employable than those with other qualifications, a survey has found.
500 employers were asked to rate the employability of those with different qualifications on a scale of 1 to 10, and higher apprentices were scored highest of any.
The full list in order of employers' preferences is:
Two new apprenticeship schemes have been launched.
Sainsbury's has released information on its management training programme, which will provide 400 people with a year's training from April.
It is aimed at existing staff who hold qualifications at a level no higher than GCSE, and is likely to create store vacancies when they move up.
Angie Risley, group HR director, said: “No amount of time in a classroom can teach future team leaders what it takes to run a busy store serving thousands of people.”
Aerospace and defence giant BAE Systems is to recruit 400 apprentices this year, its highest intake since the depths of the economic depression in 2008.
140 will join the submarine building division in Barrow-in-Furness, while 100 will be apprenticed to shipbuilding yards in Portsmouth and Glasgow.
Around 40 will be part of the five-year BAE higher apprenticeship programme, combining on-the-job training with degree-level studies and access to management grade jobs.
Computer giant Microsoft is to create 2,000 apprenticeships in Scotland.
Working through Modern Apprenticeships (MA), the firm will take on twice as many people as usual over the next three years.
Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, described the news as terrific for young people and for the MA programme.
He added: ""Microsoft is supporting investment in Scottish skills and in its own future in Scotland.
"Recruiting 2,016 apprentices by 2016 represents a huge endorsement of Scotland's young people from a company with operations in dozens of countries."
Computing company Microsoft is to create 300,000 training and work opportunities in the UK to help combat high youth unemployment.
The scheme is directly targeted at 16-24 year olds, who have been hit hard by the recession, with more than 20% unemployed.
The company will provide:
