After seeing an e-shot from the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce about funding for apprenticeships, a Lincoln businessman employed 18-year-old school leaver Adam Barker to join his team.

Clive Thompson from Serenity Financial Planning on the city’s West Parade says: “Having been a sole trader, I was unsure of some of the employment legislation that we now have, but Shirley Bates, the Chamber's learning broker, was on hand and dispelled some of the concerns I had.

“My initial perception was that there is a lot of paperwork involved in recruiting, especially if you have not had an apprentice before, but with Shirley’s help I found it all pretty straight forward.

“Adam’s role at Serenity Financial Planning is a trainee administrator, but he is studying for a business qualification in administration through his apprenticeship. He hopes to go on to study for the Certificate in Financial Planning, an industry-recognised professional qualification."

“He started with no experience and he has had to pick things up quickly, as well as completing his apprenticeship course work. He now deals with all the phone calls, the daily post, as well as administration and scanning of documents. He also manages all my client files, contact lists as well as deals with all new business applications once submitted to providers.

“Having Adam here has been a learning curve for me as well. I have had to devote more time than I first thought into his training but I saw this as a worthwhile role, and it was the right thing to do because Adam is now able to help me with a much wider range of activities – leaving me more time to get on delivering advice to my clients.”

Would you like to recruit an apprentice? For more information contact Shirley Bates or call 07912 579881.