As we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the focus often lands on technical skills. Technical training and skills are vital, but businesses including SMEs report that apprentices often lack the foundational professional skills and behaviours, from effective communication to managing their workload effectively, that allow them to contribute confidently from day one. This puts extra pressure on SMEs who are disproportionately impacted by the cost of a poor hire.
At Skills Builder UK, our work with over 900 partners has shown that it is often these essential skills that support businesses to identify the right candidate and that provide apprentices with the strong foundation to succeed in their apprenticeship. Essential skills are the highly transferable skills that everyone needs to do almost any job. They sit alongside basic skills (literacy and numeracy) and technical skills. We define them as: Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Adapting, Planning, Leadership, and Teamwork. There is a compelling business case for embedding and developing essential skills in apprenticeship programmes.
64% of people are more likely to apply for a role if the job description clearly explains the essential skills required. By moving beyond rigid requirements for prior experience, businesses can widen their talent pool and attract more diverse candidates. The same applies to retention and performance: A lack of high-quality training from employers has been linked with low satisfaction levels among apprentices as well as an increased chance of them dropping out of their apprenticeship. Around 40% of all apprentices are dropping out before completing their course. There are significant performance gains too: in the workplace, hiring for skills is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring based on education alone. And as the NFER research report Skills Imperative 2035 pointed out, the demand for these skills is projected to grow significantly as lower-skilled work becomes automated.
Essential skills provide apprentices with the resilience and adaptability to navigate the next decade of shifting labour market needs. Businesses are already reaping the rewards. Amazon used the Universal Framework through its corporate apprenticeship programme. Apprentices used the Benchmark tool to self-evaluate their strengths and development areas, before applying their essential skills in a workplace project. Subsequently over 70% of apprentices reported increased confidence in the workplace. Meanwhile, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure saw a 170% increase in suitable candidates after using the Framework to reframe their recruitment. Businesses can secure the best candidates and retain apprenticeship talent through three practical steps.
- Use the Universal Framework to explain requirements in the application process: Move away from vague terms like "good communicator". The Framework can help you to outline specific requirements —for example "Speaking Step 4: I order my points to be understood". This helps applicants better understand the role and prepare stronger examples. This can help younger applicants who may have limited employment experience.
- Support apprentices to set clear goals: Don’t stop at the hiring gate. Support apprentices to identify where the opportunities are for them to practice and apply their essential skills, from Teamwork to Problem-Solving and use tools like Benchmark to support them to self assess and monitor their progress.
- Provide opportunities for apprentices to reflect on their skills in line management conversations: Carve out time in mentoring conversations for apprentices to reflect on their essential skills.
Supporting apprentices to develop their essential skills doesn’t need to be complicated.
Through using tools like the open-source Universal Framework, businesses can ensure every apprentice is set up with the essential skills to succeed in their apprenticeship and future career.
Written by
Alice Chan, Head of Policy and External Affairs, Skills Builder UK