Building a talent pipeline with City of Edinburgh Council

This case study focuses on our employer partner, City of Edinburgh Council. It looks at how they use Graduate Apprenticeships to develop a talent pipeline to improve succession planning. The case study features Donna O'Donnell, Senior Housing Development Officer.

Can you give us some background to the company?

We are a Local Authority consisting of over 22,000 staff delivering a range of services including Housing, Homelessness, Waste Service, Street Lighting Road Safety, Parks and Greenspace, Social Care, Children and Family services and Education.

What is your role in the company?

I work in Housing and Homelessness to deliver strategies and operational programmes to improve service delivery, workforce planning and wellbeing of staff.

I am the lead officer for managing trade, modern and graduate apprentices in Housing.

What are the key drivers for the business choosing Graduate Apprenticeships?

For the Council the main reasons are succession planning to cope with challenges in recruiting fully qualified surveyors.

How many Graduate Apprentices are employed in the business and on which programmes?

We currently have four apprentices on the Construction and the Built Environment programme. And one apprentice on the Data Science programme.

Do you use Graduate Apprenticeships for recruiting new talent and/or upskilling existing employees?

For our business needs we use Graduate Apprenticeships for recruiting new talent.

What general benefits have you seen the apprentices bring to the business?

They bring a number of benefits to the business:

• Enthusiasm
• Fresh ideas
• Supporting the existing service
• Progressing from simpler tasks to more complex projects

What key support, structures or practices does an employer need to have in place to ensure apprentices succeed?

We have a pool of mentors who are happy to provide support and share knowledge and experience with the apprentices. We carry out risk assessment and comply with health and safety regulations. We also provide independent wellbeing support to apprentices encountering any issues at work.

All apprentices have a work programme that aligns with their academic learning.

Can you provide some specific examples of how the apprentices have been able to apply learning?

Apprentices are involved in the tender and procurement of contracts (with supervision) and evaluating contract costs where they apply their academic learning.

They also use their writing skills to draft contract approval reports, using professional language, tone and information.

Have any apprentices seen career progression during or after their apprenticeship?

Yes, one of our Graduate Apprentices successfully secured a permanent post as an Assistant Surveyor after only one year on the Graduate Apprenticeship programme.

What are Heriot-Watt's strengths as a talent development partner?

We enjoy good communication with the University, which in turn creates a helpful and knowledgeable partnership.

Overall, would you recommend Graduate Apprenticeships as part of a talent development strategy and why?

Yes, the service today needs to encourage younger people to join the workforce so that we can grow our own talent and create a diverse workforce which the apprentice strategy meets.

I would definitely recommend participating in this initiative as it has met the objectives of our workforce plans, supported our operational teams and has brought new talent and their refreshing perspective to delivering our service.