Salesforce.com has announced the launch of a new apprenticeship initiative that aims to train young people with skills central to what it calls the social enterprise.
The BizAcademy Apprenticeship will also teach kids more general business skills, such as how to act on the first day at work, Isabel Kelly, international director of the Salesforce.com Foundation, told CBR.
The programme will initially offer places to 20 young people on a six-week training programme. Skills taught will include the salesforce.com ADM-201 course. Successful trainees will be rewarded with a two-year paid placement at a salesforce.com customers or partner.
Kelly told CBR the programme will target young people that may have been put off attending university due to the costs involved and are now looking for different opportunities. Kelly said she expects many applicants to come from first or second generation immigrant families and those from lower income families.
"We’re seeing huge demand from kids for these skills, we may not be a household name like a Microsoft but kids want these skills," she said, adding that along with skills relevant to salesforce.com technology they will be taught more general business skills, "like turning up on time and not bringing egg sandwiches to the office on your first day."
Salesforce.com has teamed up with Skills for Growth Landmark for this initiative. "We have worked with the Salesforce.com Foundation for over five years and the work done to date has been truly life-changing for many individuals. At a time when youth unemployment is increasing in the UK, BizAcademy Apprenticeship is an exciting new programme that will provide many young people with the qualifications and industry knowledge to develop their careers," said Paul Irving, deputy CEO, Skills for Growth Landmark.
The UK is facing a growing skills crisis, with many organisations reporting that they simply cannot get access to the right skills, particularly from younger people.
Many technology companies are taking matters into their own hands, with IBM and HP both launching initiatives with universities to help train young people in key IT skills. HP teamed up with Buckinghamshire New University to launch work-based Foundation Degree in IT Services Management while IBM partnered with the University of the West of Scotland, with an emphasis on training students to gain new skills in business analytics and business modelling, with of course fits very well with Big Blue’s analytics focus.
Fellow tech giant Dell also believes getting kids interested in technology is key to solving the growing skills crisis. Clair Vyvyan, public sector director and general manager at Dell, told CBR that, "To be successful in IT and business in UK we need to raise the skills of IT in children. If we want the best jobs in IT in the UK it’s really important we have a highly literate technology population and it’s really important for the UK going forward."
For a more in-depth look at the IT skills gap, read CBR’s feature on it here.
