Modern apprenticeships are good for business

Scottish Apprenticeship Week is an annual celebration of the benefits that modern apprenticeships bring to individuals, employers and the Scottish economy. This year, the campaign runs nationwide from 4-8 March 2024 with a theme of ‘Skills Generation’.

People first sits at the heart of much of Fleming Homes’ strategy. We aim to offer great career opportunities to local young people on their doorsteps, making the Borders an attractive place to live and work. And ultimately stay!

Modern apprenticeships are an important part of how we do this. We chose attitude over aptitude, believing that if the fit is right then we can provide the training. Fleming Homes has progressed four individuals through Modern Apprentices and three through Graduate Apprenticeships in recent years.

Introducing Asher

Asher Humphrey-Martin is one of our apprenticeship stars. He has demonstrated that it is possible to achieve academic success alongside career progression through work-based learning. Asher joined Fleming Homes in 2016 on a work placement for two weeks… and never left. After accepting a permanent position, he completed a Modern Apprenticeship with Edinburgh College over two years. He then progressed to a Graduate Apprenticeship scheme with Edinburgh Napier University, graduating in July 2023 with first class honours. It’s not easy to juggle the demands of a full-time job and study at the same time, but Asher has managed to do just that. At the same time he has become an amiable and valued member of the whole Fleming Homes’ team.

In January of this year Asher was appointed Construction Design Manager. That means he heads up our Construction Design Team who look after clients’ projects throughout the construction design phase. Asher’s career progression is notable, given he is still just 25 years old.

Asher says “Being able to directly apply what I was studying to real life scenarios has made for a much more rounded learning experience. I’ve effectively graduated from Uni with nearly seven years of relevant experience in the field, and that’s allowed me to take on a management role that I would otherwise still be years away from.”

Fleming Homes Managing Director and DYW Borders board member Sarah Mathieson says “Asher’s journey highlights perfectly that the traditional route through higher education isn’t the only way to achieve academic and career success”.

An apprenticeship is a genuine job which has a training or skills development programme running alongside it. According to apprenticeships.scot there are currently nearly 40,000 apprentices training in Scotland across more than 12,000 employers. Apprenticeships are available to anyone over the age of 16 and not in full time education who wishes to gain new skills, develop existing ones or generally improve their employability. They are also a great way for employers to up-skill their workforce.