Royal Mail has launched a new postal apprenticeship scheme for would-be postmen and postwomen. Successful apprentices will achieve a Level 2 qualification.

The scheme is designed to provide participants not only with the required skills for a successful career within Royal Mail, but with a broad range of lasting, transferable skills and experience. Areas such as customer services, industry knowledge, lessons in financial budgeting and health and wellbeing will be covered.

Applicants who successfully complete the scheme will be offered a permanent role within the business.
Shortlisted applicants will have to complete a Situational Judgement Test, a virtual interview, and will be invited to meet their line manager at the unit within which they will work.

The apprentices will receive local support from their line manager, a designated workplace coach and a buddy scheme as well as a mentor to support their career progression. Additionally, Royal Mail’s training provider, Babington, will support their pastoral care and oversee their progress against the apprenticeship standard.

The role will consist of day-to-day duties as a delivery postman or woman with additional time spent completing learning towards the apprenticeship. 80 per cent of the apprenticeship will take the form of on-the-job training with the remaining 20 per cent being online learning towards their Level 2 apprenticeship qualification.

Royal Mail has been running an apprenticeship programme successfully in fleet, engineering and other parts of the business for a number of years. However, the postal apprenticeship represents one of the largest single apprenticeship programmes in the UK and reinforces the critical role Royal Mail plays in the communities it serves.

The apprenticeship recruitment programme will run from September 2021 and will be 13 months in duration.

Many senior Royal Mail employees began their careers through the former postal cadet scheme which ceased in 1996. With the launch of the postal apprenticeship scheme, Royal Mail plans to build on that history and bring fresh talent to the organisation.

Ricky McAulay, operations development director, said: “We couldn’t be prouder to launch our postal apprenticeship scheme at a time when the pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on career opportunities across the country. We’ve placed a real emphasis on ensuring that our scheme has a range of transferable skills so that successful candidates can take what they learn with them for the rest of their careers.

“Having started my work at Royal Mail as a postal cadet in 1986, I know the benefit that these initiatives can have on a career I look forward to seeing these aspiring apprentices join us at Royal Mail.”

The initial cohort of 500 apprentices will begin in September at locations across the UK, split equally between the north and the south. A further 500 will be allocated across the business from in the new year.

The scheme opens for applications on June 28. For more information, please visit the Early Careers section at: https://jobs.royalmailgroup.com/.