During National Apprenticeship Week 2021 (8th to 14th February), an apprentice from the East Midlands is calling on local people and her fellow colleagues to pursue the career they have always wanted by applying now for one of over 1,000 new full-time Amazon apprenticeships available.
Recruitment has started for 25 different apprenticeship schemes ranging from engineering to broadcast production, creative digital design to health, safety and environment technician. 100 degree-level apprenticeships are available in automation engineering, project management, software development and chartered management.
Over 500 new apprenticeships will be offered to Amazon’s existing workforce, providing opportunities to retrain and gain new skills leading to an exciting new career path. Apprenticeships exclusively for Amazon employees range from a team leader through to a coaching practitioner.
The roles pay a minimum of £9.70 p/h in Kegworth up to £30,000 a year for degree-level apprenticeships.
In addition to being fully-funded, apprentices also receive a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals and an employee discount – which combined are worth more than £700 annually – as well as a company pension plan.
The new apprentices will join current apprentices already working at Amazon Kegworth. The current Amazon apprenticeship schemes have attracted recruits from a range of different backgrounds from a former barista, footballer and photographer, to former military veterans and nurses. Throughout the last year, people have also joined Amazon from construction, customer services, health care, hospitality and sales industries.
One such apprentice is Emma Horton, a Health, Safety and Environment Technician apprentice working at Amazon in Kegworth. Emma finished her apprenticeship in December 2020 and now works as a Safety Specialist at Amazon in Kegworth. She enjoys the opportunities available at Amazon, and that there’s always potential for switching job roles and being involved in different projects. She used the experience of the apprenticeship to learn the skills needed to get to the next level of her career and secure a full-time role.
Emma previously worked at a retail company for seven years, before taking the plunge and applying to Amazon.
Emma said: “I would encourage anyone to apply for an apprenticeship with Amazon. I’ve learned so much and have been able to progress in my job, without taking on extra hours. It’s also really helped me with my confidence and my perception of things. The best thing I’ve learned is that nothing is impossible!”
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire said “As a significant local employer, it is fantastic to see Amazon creating new opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to gain skills through their apprenticeship programmes in 25 different fields, from logistics to robotics.”
Celia Syme, Site Leader at Amazon in Kegworth, said: “An Amazon apprenticeship offers an exciting career path, creating opportunities within our local community in Kegworth and helping our own employees retrain and gain new skills at a time when investing in people and jobs has never been more important.”
The 1,000 apprenticeships add to Amazon’s continued commitment to creating jobs and opportunities to learn new skills across the UK. Amazon created 10,000 new permanent jobs in the UK in 2020 alone, and employs more than 40,000 people in some of the most advanced workplaces of their kind in the world with competitive pay, processes and systems to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all employees.
Apprentice programmes last between 14 months and four years and a typical apprenticeship combines theoretical learning with hands-on training, enabling participants to obtain qualifications and degrees and earn money in the process.
Once qualified, apprentices will have the potential to work across Amazon’s UK sites including fulfilment centres, delivery stations, sortation centres and the company’s UK head offices in London and Manchester and the three development centres in Edinburgh, Cambridge and London.
Amazon also offers employees Career Choice, an innovative programme which pre-pays 95% of tuition for courses in high-demand fields, up to £8,000 over four years, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.
Amazon provides opportunities to improve existing skills or learn new ones through internal career progression opportunities such as cross-training, transferring to a different department and promotion into a managerial role.
Applications are now open for Amazon’s apprenticeship programme. For more information, visit: www.amazonapprenticeships.co.uk
Photograph taken at Amazon Fulfillment Centre Kegworth in 2019 pre social distancing guidelines
