National Apprenticeship Week 2025

Encocam has been an award-winning and highly accredited engineering company for over 35 years. We thrive on innovation and creating opportunities for aspiring individuals to drive their careers with support from our experienced team. Since first starting apprenticeship schemes at Encocam, we have expanded the range of opportunities and currently employ 9 apprentices across the following disciplines:

• Marketing
• Textiles
• Human Resources
• Engineering
• Business Administration

Why should people pick an Apprenticeship over College or University?

The annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England and Wales has now gone up to £9,535 per academic year, meaning apprenticeships are becoming increasingly more popular. Apprenticeships are paid full-time jobs where you can learn and gain valuable experience working within your desired industry, which makes them the perfect opportunity for individuals to get hands on experience into their future.

According to research from 1,000 employers, 49% said they would employ candidates from their experience opposed to the 24% who would employ based on relevant degrees.  Anyone over the age of 16 can apply to apprenticeships and there are multiple levels that you can choose from, including: Intermediate (Level 2), Advanced (Level 3), Higher (Level 4,5,6,7) and Degree (level 6 and 7). Each level ranges in duration, varying from one year to 4 years and there is also the opportunity to progress the apprenticeship to a higher level after beginning your course if you would like. The benefits of an apprenticeship include the ability to earn whilst learning, gain a certification relevant to your apprenticeship, acquire industry experience, no debt and a variety of career opportunities.

Why choose Encocam?

We are committed to showcasing our apprentices’ skills and encouraging progression opportunities within Encocam; many previous apprentices have stayed with us after they have completed their studies. This includes Encocam’s HR manager, Chris Hartley, who first joined us in 2017 as a HR trainee on a Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship. He then advanced to a Level 3 CIPD HR Support Apprenticeship and has since developed within our company to become a manager. In addition to progression opportunities, we also run an Apprentice of the Year competition, our apprentices are given a challenge and set of tasks to complete which aligns with their apprenticeship courses and then they go on to present their ideas to our Business Unit Managers. We believe that this benefits our apprentices by gaining new, important skills for their futures. The goal of the competition is to challenge our apprentices to think innovatively whilst developing their skills further.

We believe that apprentices are beneficial in bringing fresh perspectives and a new energy to the work environment at Encocam. We are passionate about developing our apprentices and this has been recognised. In early 2024, Matthew Wiltshire, Engineering Apprentice, received the Engineering Apprentice of the Year Award from Cambridge Regional College, with the judges commending him for his performance and perseverance in progressing from a Level 3 to a Level 4 Apprenticeship.

We are also members of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) for the East of England, supporting an initiative to encourage businesses to be actively involved in apprenticeship schemes.

Working as an apprentice provides individuals with benefits such as:

• Hands on experience within your chosen sector.
• Earn as you learn.
• Industry recognised qualifications from levels 2-6.
• Improved career prospects.
• Ongoing and personalised support from your team and other colleagues.  
• Personal and career development opportunities.

What our apprentices think:

Evie Ferry – Level 6 BSc (Hons) Digital Marketer Degree Apprentice

I have worked with Encocam since August 2024 and recently began my 4-year course at Anglia Ruskin University, where I learn the key fundamentals for marketing, with this I attend workshops each term and learn through an online platform. I was determined to do a degree apprenticeship due the ability for me to achieve a degree whilst receiving an income and valuable work environment experiences. The support from my team, mentors and other staff has been extremely helpful and welcoming. I have found it to be very hands-on which has been great for my development and confidence; I am given a variety of tasks which is helping me to learn different aspects of Marketing whilst also contributing to business development. I am extremely grateful that I began working at Encocam, every day is different, and I am constantly learning.

Ciera Norman – Level 3 HR Support Apprentice

I started my apprenticeship in September 2024 at Cambridge Regional College. It’s coming up to a year since I began working at Encocam, the support from the team around me has made any challenges far less turbulent, but I also used these experiences as opportunities for me to learn and broaden my expertise within the HR field. It has been great, and I am looking forward to what is next. The last few months have been very busy, and my workload has massively increased, however, I have enjoyed every moment of it. My team are always supporting me with skills and knowledge from their expertise and assist me whenever necessary, making my experience here an incredibly rewarding one. I chose to work at Encocam because of my passion for helping people. Working here has given me the opportunity to learn and develop both my personal and workplace skills, as well as allowing me to learn more about engineering, which I have never previously been exposed to.

Megan King – Level 2 Textiles Apprentice

I have worked at Encocam for 14 months. The work has been very versatile, whether it be making various products from our range, working on Adobe/Inkscape training, projects delegated by my manager such as re-upholstering chairs or product research. I have received incredible support from my manager and other members of staff. One of my favourite moments so far has been starting my training at WEBBS in September 2024, which is a training course where I learn new machinist skills which may open further opportunities for me. Encocam provides great opportunities to learn new skills within a different industry, I have always loved textiles and being able to work within an in-house textiles department is rare, so the opportunity is great to experience. This has always been what I wanted to do for my career and my age isn’t seen as a lack of experience, it is seen as a fresh perspective so I knew this would be a great place to work, along with working with other creative, knowledgeable and innovative individuals.

Tyler Dunkley – Level 3 Business Administration Apprentice

My experience so far at Encocam has been great. I felt reassured during the first couple of months as the people at Encocam made it easy for me to settle in to both the work environment and the apprenticeship. There has never been a lack of support, I am comfortable with asking people questions and have found that everyone in the workplace is happy to help where needed. I had my mind set on an apprenticeship and knew it would be the best thing for me to gain hands on experience whilst being able to learn. My favourite experience so far is helping with customer enquiries, it was nice being able to look back and acknowledge where I’ve been able to assist customers with their problems. After my first interview, I knew Encocam was the right place for me, and I wanted to work here because of the people, their professionalism, and resources.

We have incredible support systems around the business which will help you along your journey, including a friendly apprentice networking community, mentor support and a HR team with apprenticeship experience to assist with any concerns. We are always looking to welcome new apprentices into Encocam, so If you think you are ready to embark on a new journey, build your career and contribute to our dynamic work environment, please contact us at recruitment@encocam.com for further information.