The rewards of degree apprenticeships

Ciptex is a global cloud communication platforms company. It relocated from London to Manchester due to the strength of its relationship with the University. 

Having established a long-standing relationship with Manchester Met, over the last six years, the move was made due to what the company describes as a ‘guaranteed talent pipeline’.

With apprentices from the University now making up 12% of the company’s workforce, the skills that they bring have an immediate impact on the business. For the business and the students, the relationship brings mutual benefits and learning from day one.  

Supporting businesses to grow in the global market    

The growth of the business by 70% in one year demonstrates the strength of degree apprenticeships.

Student Rosie Llewellyn-Jones played a pivotal part in this by implementing a new website, customer relationship management (CRM) system and marketing campaign engine to promote the business into new industry verticals. 

With three programmes offered – Digital and Technology Solutions, Chartered Manager and Digital Marketer apprenticeships – students use their learning and skills to add value to the business.

The implementation of new technologies by a digital marketing degree apprentice is supporting the development of talent and elevating Manchester to be a global digital hub.  

Creating a talented and diverse future workforce   

Head of Product Development at Ciptex, Matthew Duggan, said: “We have learnt that each apprentice should be considered on an individual basis. Our experience is that an apprentice who is working towards a specific role, such as marketing, can quickly contribute at a different level of responsibility than an apprentice who is working across departments, such as business management.” 

Matthew added: “Ciptex, unfortunately, had an all-male, white British tech team before we recruited our degree apprentices. The first two apprentices we hired were none of those and we have consistently found that both the gender balance and ethnicities of top candidates for degree apprenticeships have been very diverse.”

Recruiting in the field of niche technology can be challenging – degree apprenticeships offer the perfect solution.  

He went on to explain: “As an SME we had a real hard time recruiting. Our work is within a specialist area, and we struggled to recruit at the right level. Being passionate about training for young people, degree apprenticeships seemed the obvious choice. We went to market with it and found two fantastic apprentices including one who was a young migrant and still with us after six years and four promotions!  

“Manchester Met brought us to degree apprenticeships so were the obvious choice of provider, plus they were delivering exactly what we wanted! 

Bringing fresh perspectives and positivity

Ciptex now has six apprentices, including two that have already graduated. Since they started taking degree apprentices in 2017, Ciptex has highlighted a multitude of benefits. Matthew described how apprentices bring best practice techniques, learnt on the University programme, the willingness to take on new ideas and work outside of their comfort zone. They are results-driven which inspires others and are willing to take on tasks that others may consider tedious.   

He said: “It is difficult to assess when these attributes impact an organisation – but what is immediate is a student’s positive attitude. And a positive attitude can be infectious and motivate others, including their managers, to be better.  

“I think the biggest misconception is that an apprentice will be a drain on the business while studying and only deliver value after their degree. Our apprentices have all added value from day one and the fresh ideas they constantly bring to the table keep us agile and leaps ahead of our competitors.”