LDN: Creating opportunities for diverse talent to realise their potential
LDN Apprenticeships helps diverse talent to find jobs they love within the Salesforce ecosystem.
LDN Apprenticeships was founded in 2010 in response to high levels of youth unemployment in London. “There were literally millions of young people who had no way of getting their foot in the door at awesome companies,” says Simon Bozzoli, CEO at LDN. “We wanted to do something about that. Apprenticeships are an ideal way to connect businesses to talent with an appetite for digital skills.”
To begin with, LDN focused its apprenticeships on generic digital skills, such as software development. But when Covid hit, the team at LDN took the opportunity to introduce Salesforce specific programmes.
“We saw the potential to create amazing opportunities for our apprentices in the Salesforce ecosystem, and as a result we developed and launched three tailor-made Salesforce apprenticeship programmes – Salesforce Administrator, Salesforce Business Analyst and Salesforce Consultant," Simon explains.
“The Salesforce Administrator apprenticeship is a 15 month, Level 3 programme, while the other two are 18 months and Level 4. We’ve seen great demand for all of these programmes from the employers we work with and, because of the incredible jobs that are available in the Salesforce space, they are popular with our apprentices too. In fact, we launched our first cohort in October 2020 and have grown 400% since then. Our apprentices are the very definition of ‘net new talent’. In fact, many of them haven’t even heard of Salesforce before joining LDN.”
LDN Apprenticeships
TalentPath®
The team at LDN establish strong links with the companies and consultancies they work with, to make sure candidates are well-matched to the role and the company they’re going to work for. As they started working with increasing numbers of employers, it became apparent that customers wanted LDN Apprentices to come with a level of pre-existing knowledge about the Salesforce platform. In response, TalentPath was launched - an 8-week Salesforce Training programme designed in close partnership with the team at Salesforce.
Simon continues: “To create more opportunities for the brilliant people we work with, it’s important that we listen to and understand what employers are looking for. This enables us to design suitable training programmes, and to deliver the talent that our customers want.”
TalentPath is completely free of charge to participants, making it accessible to a diverse and untapped pool of talent. It incorporates Salesforce’s Trailhead Virtual Bootcamp and leads to the Admin certification. Around this, LDN have built in comprehensive information, advice and guidance, pre-assessments, mentoring support, coaching workshops and other supplementary activity to get people prepped for their exam and career ready.
The result is that TalentPath participants kickstart their journey by learning from Salesforce certified trainers and get a full understanding of what it takes to secure employment in the ecosystem.
Simon adds: “We know TalentPath is a crucial step to benefit learning and development, but it hasn’t been an easy programme to get off the ground. We’re constrained by the geographical limitations of our funding, and successfully gaining certifications can take a while.
“But we’re finding that on completion of the programme, our participants are walking into jobs and apprenticeships. While we still place untrained apprentices who show great aptitude and attitude, those who are have completed TalentPath definitely have the edge. They’re pushing on open doors which is amazing.”
Applied Learning: Skills plus Practical Application
LDN Apprenticeships provide a unique mix of technical training and hands-on experience. Over time, this applied learning approach results in very valuable resources for customers, with people achieving three or four Salesforce certifications by the end of their time with LDN.
One recent LDN apprentice, Destiny Pullar-Latchman, comments: “I’ve achieved so much during the 15 months of my apprenticeship, from achieving certifications, to winning LDN’s ‘Apprentice of the Month’, and getting recognition from clients. The consultancy I’ve worked for, Westbrook, has been very supportive from the start in terms of up-skilling, exposing me to different aspects of Salesforce and other roles to help me become a well-rounded consultant.
“I’ve gained so much confidence because of my time as an apprentice. It’s helped me get my foot in the door of the Salesforce ecosystem, and develop my soft and technical skills in a less pressured environment.”
Matthew Rosete, another recent LDN apprentice, has had a similar experience: “It feels like I've just completed a major step in my career. I was placed with Pracedo, and their support, coupled with the mentoring I received from LDN, has helped me progress in leaps and bounds.
“I've developed a skillset not just for jobs within the Salesforce ecosystem, but one that I can take with me everywhere in life. Being given the opportunity to implement complex requirements into Salesforce has improved my technical skills greatly, particularly around Revenue Cloud. Meeting with clients to conduct sprint demonstrations based on what I've built has improved my presentation skills too!”
Certainly, it’s a powerful combination to learn the theory but also gain experience implementing real-world approaches. “It’s a problem that you hear talked about in the ecosystem all the time,” continues Simon. “People might be certified, but do they really understand the practical side and the business problems that surface in a job? More and more, employers are realising that apprenticeships neatly solve this problem. They’re an ideal way to deliver both the technical skills and the real-world experience that makes for a well-rounded Salesforce professional.”
An outstanding provision
Future-focused companies need a diverse workforce to be competitive and to foster both representation and productivity, so this is a key driver for LDN. “In our Salesforce programmes, 48% are female, 49% are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and 60% are under 25. We also have some older people with domain expertise who are looking to break into the Salesforce ecosystem.
“Our retention rates are amongst the best in the country at 83% and our achievement rate is more than 30% higher than the national average. We also received an Outstanding rating in our recent Ofsted inspection. But perhaps the most powerful statistic we are able to point to is our ‘positive progression rate’.
“This looks at the number of apprentices who have progressed into a positive outcome after completing their time with us. Currently, we’re seeing 94% of our apprentices either stay in their job, move to another company, or start further study. It’s clear evidence that these are life-changing experiences which see people going from knowing nothing about Salesforce, to starting lucrative and purposeful careers with great prospects.”
Democratising access to Salesforce Careers
49%
Black and Minority
Ethic backgrounds
48%
female
94%
Positive Progression Rate
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