Hospitality apprentices are the most in demand, says Adzuna

With National Apprenticeship Week concluding last week (5 – 9 March), a study of over 8,600 apprenticeship positions by job search engine Adzuna revealed the types of apprenticeships most in demand.

The study, which uses Adzuna’s live job market data, showed that there are currently 1,351 advertised hospitality and catering apprenticeship vacancies available in the UK.

These figures are lower than the government target of creating a total of three million apprenticeships by 2020, but it is likely that vacancies will rise significantly in early summer, when exam season concludes.

Across the sectors, hospitality and catering businesses have the highest amount of apprentice roles on offer, surpassing the IT (1,145) and teaching (738) industries. Large chains such as the Hilton Hotel and Harvester have led the way in giving young people opportunities offering 78 and 46 roles respectively.

Mitchells and Butlers who own the Harvester brand as well as All Bar One and Toby Carvery currently have a 148 apprenticeship roles available.

Many of the vacancies currently available are located in London and the South East. For head chefs, there are 142 training schemes in the Greater London region, and 331 in the South East. Yet there are far fewer apprenticeship vacancies available in other areas of the UK, including just 27 on offer in Wales and 35 in the North East.

These figures suggest that business owners need to do more to ensure their roles are well distributed throughout the UK not only to avoid potentially hindering some apprenticeship applicants but to ensure they also get the best quality candidates.

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “With university tuition fees at an all-time high, more young people are looking at alternative ways to up-skill after school, without the hefty price tag.

“Apprenticeships offer a cost-effective way of training on the job as well as developing new talent in skills shortage areas. This makes them a win-win solution for both employers and jobseekers.”