Reaping the rewards of a growing apprenticeship scheme

Posted on: 17 March, 2025

If you’re only recruiting people from the same schools, or who look the same, then you’re doing something wrong in my eyes. Apprentices are a great way of building that diversity pipeline.

Name: Francesca Andrews

Company: CBRE

Francesca (Frankie) Andrews is in charge of CBRE’s Next Gen programme: a busy role in which she looks after a large cohort of apprentices and graduates.

Hiring apprentices across the business

CBRE’s apprenticeship scheme initially focused on real estate and building surveying, with around 10 apprentices enrolled with UCEM in the first cohort. The scheme has expanded every year, and the successes of its apprentices have inspired the company to broaden its intake of apprentices across many more areas:

“From September we’re going to have two new pathways. We’re going to have a facilities management one and a management consultancy apprenticeship. We also offer an HR apprenticeship, and we’re taking on some apprentices in our finance, marketing and sustainability teams. I think it shows that more and more areas of the business are recognising how apprentices can add value.”

A long-standing relationship with UCEM

One of Frankie’s first meetings when she joined CBRE in 2021 was with Meryl Bonser, the company’s account manager and Director of Business Development at UCEM – and this relationship has gone from strength to strength. “The whole team are incredibly helpful,” says Frankie, “right from enrolment through to helping to resolve any issues we have, to people finishing the programme – they’re really easy to work with”.

Frankie believes the system of every apprentice having their own Apprenticeship Outcomes Officer (AOO) helps set them up for success: “Having those meetings with the apprentice, the line manager and the AOO makes sure that everybody’s on the same page, knows when deadlines are, knows what support is needed. I then have quarterly catch ups with UCEM as well just to get the overall picture on how everyone’s doing. I can step in and flag if anyone needs some more support.”

The nature of this support is wide-ranging, from giving extensions to students who need them, to making sure an apprentice knows which lecturer to speak to for extra help, or putting wellbeing support in place if someone is struggling.

“With UCEM, apprentices can be referred to someone and have a dedicated plan put in place. It might be something that seems relatively simple, like a deadline change on an assignment. Sometimes it’s adjustments based on neurodiversity needs or dyslexia.”

The company’s apprentices report high satisfaction levels with their courses at UCEM, and the 100% online delivery of the modules means that all of the company’s apprentices can study at the same time. Not only is this logistically easier for CBRE, but it also helps the apprentices feel like they’re part of the same cohort, and enables them to build a network of peers.

How apprentices add value

Apprenticeships add value from day one, according to Frankie:

“Having an apprentice is a way of molding someone to what your business needs from the get go. I’m sure lots of us remember that what you learned at school, college, university, when you actually come into the workplace, one of the first things your manager is likely to tell you is ‘forget what you’ve learned, this is how it’s actually done’. Whereas I think for an apprenticeship, because they are getting that mix of academic learning and actually working and learning on the job as well, you’re getting the skills that you need straight away.”

Frankie is a keen advocate of the benefits of hiring apprentices because they’re so receptive to new initiatives: “They have the advantage of rotating into different areas of the business, which means they can share learning between teams, and help join up the dots in the business”.

CBRE’s apprentices also bring a much-valued diversity of thought to the business, which is something Frankie sees as essential:

“If you’re recruiting people who have either worked in a different industry before or are from a different generation, they bring a completely different perspective to project teams. And that’s priceless. If you’re only recruiting people from the same schools, or who look the same, then you’re doing something wrong in my eyes. Apprentices are a great way of building that diversity pipeline.”

AI and apprentices

With AI increasingly on the horizon, Frankie believes that apprentices will be key to understanding how best to harness emerging technologies:

“I think at the moment everyone’s at the point where they use AI from an efficiency point of view but the potential of it reaches so far beyond that. We know that our apprentices are going to have to be learning those skills straight away because in a few years you probably won’t be able to do your job without them.”

Improving industry access

Frankie is passionate about social mobility, observing that the built environment is often seen as  a career for those with industry connections, making it less accessible to people without their own network. CBRE works with the charity Career Ready to offer mentoring and internships to students from non-traditional backgrounds who may not have considered real estate as a career path. Many of these students progress to apprenticeships at the company: in fact, two recent recruits from the Career Ready programme successfully pitched for and launched a social mobility network, which has since gained significant traction within CBRE.

All apprentices at the company are required to take part in at least one school outreach programme a year, “whether that’s attending careers fairs, going to assemblies and making sure that we’re talking to students, teachers and parents to try and challenge any misconceptions that people have about apprenticeships.”