Pictured: Mansfield company Whistler has recruited four apprentices to its growing team (l-r) Scott Manifold (Whistler MD), Julie Millott (Engagement Team Manager, Positive Outcomes), with apprentices Helen Northern, Andrew Lockley, Sian Barlow and Christopher Heathcote

National training and apprenticeship organisation Positive Outcomes has helped Mansfield business Whistler Technology & Ivory Egg recruit four apprentices as part of its backing of the National Apprenticeship Scheme, which its Managing Director Scott Manifold, says is 'excellent'.

School leavers Sian Barlow, Andrew Lockley, Chris Heathcote and Helen Norton have joined the company as apprentices as part of its requirement to expand the team in response to a growing demand for its products and services.

The company, which is based at Mansfield's Oakham Business Park, currently has thirty full time employees. It has two sides to its business - Whistler is a supplier of electronic components to business, and Ivory Egg operates an online e-commerce site for consumers purchasing electronic products, such as computers and software.

As the company's MD Scott Manifold explains, recruiting apprentices has proved 'excellent' and the ideal route to achieving its personnel requirements for a number of reasons: "The challenge for us is to find candidates of the right calibre and ability that are based locally. This hasn't always been possible, so then we have been forced to widen the net and recruit from outside of the area, which can be a costly exercise for all involved.

"Recruitment is often a bit of a gamble, as there are no guarantees a new hire will prove to fit with the culture of the business. Learning from past experiences, we spoke to Positive Outcomes, a company local to us, about the feasibility of taking on ambitious school leavers who live in the area, and they suggested we explore creating apprenticeship roles. It was refreshing to work with a company that listens to our requirements and in very many ways, took the angst and hard work out of the process by creating an apprenticeship job specification and finding the right candidates for the vacancies. We continue to find the whole experience excellent."

Positive Outcomes' Julie Millott, Engagement Team Manager, adds: "Whistler is an ambitious business that presents an excellent prospect for school leavers in the area. All four apprentices are enjoying working at the company, and are benefiting from professional training and personal development, with the company focussed on giving them a real career opportunity, with responsibility and the prospect to progress within the business.

"Apprenticeships are designed to supply organisations with fresh, ambitious people who want to develop, learn and gain a qualification. We thoroughly screen all our apprentices to establish their level of education, personal skills, attributes and ambitions. Working closely to understand a client's business and culture means that once a suitable apprentice has been secured we can then develop a bespoke training programme that provides the relevant skills and expertise, which is exactly what we are doing with Whistler's apprentices."

Sian Barlow's apprenticeship is within Ivory Egg's marketing department, and involves working on data marketing, the company's website, PR and social media channels.

Andrew Lockley, Chris Heathcote and Helen Northern are working as apprentice account executives within the customer service team at Whistler. Initially providing valuable support to individual account executives, they have a solid career path which could eventually lead to managing their own portfolio of customers.

Scott Manifold adds: "The apprenticeship scheme is perfect for our company, giving us a cost effective opportunity to support local school leavers by giving them a great break, whilst we can train and grow them to give them the best professional grounding, for their benefit, but also for the company."