At EDC, we mean BUSINESS.
If you're looking for a enthusiastic horticulture apprentice to bolster your workforce, we're the perfect partner to help!
No matter what your business aims are, we can assist. We'll tailor our horticulture apprenticeship service to you; after all, every business is different, and we fully understand that your requirements will be different too.
Put your trust in East Durham College's apprenticeship service. We say that we're big enough to deliver, but small enough to care. We'll be the apprenticeship partner you can rely on to enhance your workforce with great new talent.
Our Tailored Approach
It all starts with a discussion. One of our apprenticeship team will get in touch with you to arrange a sit-down meeting to discuss your individual apprenticeship requirements.
Whether you'd like to pop into the college to discuss things over a coffee at our restaurant, The Grove, or would prefer us to come to your place of work, we're more than happy to help.
At the meeting, you can expect to go through everything apprenticeships - we'll have a chat about how we can help you, what support we can give you and answer all of the questions you might have about hiring a horticulture apprentice.
After the meeting, our team will look over everything we've discussed and create a bespoke apprenticeship plan for your business. We'll also make sure we keep you regularly updated going forward too.
Book in a chat with the team by clicking here, or keep scrolling for more information.
Step 1: Matching You with the Right Candidates
One of the first benefits of working with EDC is our in-house, comprehensive apprenticeship recruitment service.
Once we've identified what you're looking for in a horticulture apprentice, we'll advise your vacancy on our college website (which regularly gets thousands of visitors) and we'll pre-screen any applicants for you as they come in. If we've had any previous applicants who might be a good fit for you, we'll also potentially recommend those as well.
New applicants will be invited into college for an initial interview/skills assessment, where we will identify their suitability for your vacancy.
Afterwards it's over to you - we'll get in touch to see how you feel about each candidate before offering the potential apprentices a formal interview at your premises.
Interviews are held by you just like a normal job interview and you'll hopefully find the right horticulture apprentice candidate before you know it!
But that’s not all from us – this is just stage one. EDC are your partner throughout the apprenticeship, and our service doesn’t stop with recruitment. That’s why we say we’re big enough to deliver and small enough to care.
Step 2: Supporting Your Horticulture Apprenticeships
You've found the right candidate, but what's next? Well, it's now time for their training to begin.
As an employer, your staff will be responsible for ensuring that the apprentice learns a wide variety of new skills, supported by the expertise of your current workforce.
Alongside this, you can expect regular support from East Durham College’s apprenticeship team.
Firstly, your horticulture apprentice(s) will be assigned a trainer/coach, who will regularly visit you at your premises to observe and mentor your apprentices’ development directly and you as their employer.
Your apprentice(s) will also complete weekly day release where they attend training here at East Durham College. Their training will be at our stunning Houghall campus in Durham, which has some stunning grounds for practical work, supported by theory in the workshops.
Step 3: Apprentice No Longer – Here’s Your New Full-Time Staff Member
After the initial period of their apprenticeship, hopefully by that point your candidate has impressed you with their work ethic, and they can transition into becoming a full-time employee of your business.
After all, at the end of their apprenticeship, they’ve got the skills, know your business and – hopefully! – will have impressed you during their time with our organisation.
Then, who knows! You may have been so impressed with your apprentice, you’re ready to take on your next one.
We can 100% guarantee after experiencing how the team at EDC really cares about your apprentices, you’ll have the perfect person in mind to continue to partner with going forward.
Horticulture Apprenticeships Available with EDC
We can help with a variety of horticulture apprenticeship standards, including:
- Level 2 Horticulture
- Level 2 Golf Greenkeeping
- Level 2 Sports Turf