Royal Mail to recruit 32 West Midlands apprentices

The scheme will offer up to 1,000 Level 2 apprenticeships based at various locations across the UK, including 32 for the West Midlands.

The initiative represents one of the largest single apprenticeship programmes in the UK.

Successful apprentices will achieve a Level 2 certification.

The scheme is designed to provide participants with the required skills for a successful career within Royal Mail and a broad range of lasting transferable skills and experience.

Areas such as customer services, industry knowledge, and lessons in financial budgeting and health and wellbeing will be covered.

Applicants who successfully complete the scheme will be offered a permanent role within the business.

Shortlisted applicants will have to complete a situational judgement test, a virtual interview and will be invited to meet their line manager at the unit within which they will work.

The apprentices will receive local support from their line manager, a designated workplace coach and a buddy scheme as well as a mentor to support their career progression.

Additionally, Royal Mail’s training provider, Babington, will support their pastoral care and oversee their progress against the apprenticeship standard.

The role will consist of day to day duties as a delivery postman or woman with additional time spent completing learning towards the apprenticeship, with 80 per cent of it taking the form of on-the-job training with the other fifth being online learning towards their Level 2 apprenticeship certification.

Royal Mail has been running an apprenticeship programme successfully in fleet, engineering and other parts of the business for a number of years.

The apprenticeship recruitment programme will run from September 2021 and will be 13 months in duration.

Many senior Royal Mail employees began their careers through the former Postal Cadet Scheme which ceased in 1996.

Ricky McAulay, operations development director, said: “We couldn’t be prouder to launch our Postal Apprenticeship Scheme at a time when the pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on career opportunities across the country. We’ve placed a real emphasis on ensuring that our scheme has a range of transferable skills so that successful candidates can take what they learn with them for the rest of their careers.

“Having started my work at Royal Mail as a Postal Cadet in 1986, I know the benefit that these initiatives can have on a career I look forward to seeing these aspiring apprentices join us at Royal Mail.”

The initial cohort of 500 apprentices will begin in September, with up to a further 500 roles being allocated across the business from in the new year.

The scheme opens for applications on June 28. For more information, please visit the Early Careers section at: jobs.royalmailgroup.com