Royal Mail has announced it is to offer out 1,000 apprenticeships for those keen to become posties across the UK.
As part of the service’s new Postal Apprenticeship Scheme – which is designed to provide participants not only with the required skills for a successful career within Royal Mail, but with a broad range of lasting transferable skills and experience – successful candidates will achieve a Level 2 certification.
While Royal Mail has been running an apprenticeship schemes in other sectors of the service for a good few years now, this new initiative is one of the largest single apprenticeship programmes in the UK.
It comes after the former Postal Cadet Scheme ceased in 1996 – which started the careers of many senior Royal Mail employees.
Speaking on the launch of the new scheme, Ricky McAulay – Operations Development Director at Royal Mail – 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.”
Keen to find out a little more about the job and what successful applicants will be getting up to?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What does the apprenticeship entail?
Areas such as customer services, industry knowledge, and lessons in financial budgeting, and health and wellbeing will all be covered in the new Postal Apprenticeship Scheme.
The role will consist of day-to-day duties as a delivery postie, with additional time spent completing learning towards the apprenticeship. 80% of the apprenticeship will take the form of on-the-job training, with the remaining 20% being online learning towards their Level 2 apprenticeship certification.
What is the application process like?
As part of the application process, those who are shortlisted will have to complete a ‘Situational Judgement Test’, a virtual interview, and will be invited to meet their line manager at the unit where they’ll work.
Applicants who successfully complete the scheme will be offered a permanent role at Royal Mail.
What support will I receive?
Apprentices will receive extensive training, local support from their line manager, a designated workplace coach, and a mentor to support their career progression.
Are applications open?
Applications for the Postal Apprenticeship Scheme open on Monday 28 June, and the recruitment programme will run from September 2021, with the initial cohort of 500 apprentices starting then.
Up to a further 500 roles will then be allocated across the business from in the new year.
In total, Royal Mail is expecting the recruitment process to take up to 13 months, and you can submit your application via the Early Careers section on the Royal Mail website here.
Featured Image – Royal Mail
