New Partnership Drives Unique Apprenticeship Programme

26th August 2011 3:06PM

The North East’s largest independent apprenticeship provider and one of the UK’s most prominent motor groups have forged a partnership to deliver a unique apprenticeship training programme.

The North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) and Benfield Motor Group initiated a recruitment campaign in October last year to pioneer a groundbreaking customer service apprenticeship, a first for the motor industry, across Benfield’s group of dealerships in the region.

Benfield Motor Group, which is one of the largest and best known private companies in the motor retailing market, were keen to recruit Customer Service Apprentices and provide the opportunity to more than a dozen young people to grow with the company. Following extensive promotion in the regional press by the two companies, Benfield engaged NECC’s Training Recruitment Service to select showroom assistants for positions in their dealerships across the region.

The NECC Training Recruitment Service is a free of charge service which specialises in the recruitment and selection of young apprentices who are perfectly matched to suit individual business’ needs. 14 applicants were chosen to take up the positions and, since they began, they have successfully completed and excelled in all assessments to date.

Steve Bainbridge, Group Sales Development Manager at Benfield Motor Group, said: “The new Sales Apprenticeship programme is the first of its kind in the UK Motor Industry and we are delighted with the partnership we have developed with the North East Chamber of Commerce. NECC’s support for training and career development is working well and we are delighted with the progress of all the apprentices and the overall programme so far.”

Patricia Wilkinson, director of training and skills development, said:  “Part of the reason why this partnership has been so successful is down to the flexible, tailored and relevant approach we have been able to take towards training and apprenticeships and we would like to thank Benfield Motor Group for their commitment to this initiative.”

To find out more about apprenticeships with NECC and how your business could benefit from a tailored training programme call NECC on 0300 303 6322, email enquiries@necc.co.uk or visit www.necc.co.uk/apprenticeships