NHS uses Snapchat to attract new recruits during National Apprenticeship Week

The NHS, the UK’s largest employer, is turning to Snapchat for a social media campaign aimed at attracting apprentices to the health service during the Government’s 10th National Apprenticeship Week.

The Snapchat campaign – which is a first for the Health Education England’s Health Careers service which is running the campaign – is part of a wider #NHyeS campaign to position the NHS in England as a major employer of apprentices and, with more than 150 different roles on offer, highlight the range of options available to young people.

HEE is targeting job centres with Snapchat Geofilters to highlight some of the more diverse roles available within the NHS including apprenticeships in gardening, painting and decorating, pathology and social media.

A new filter, with a visual cue to each of the roles available, will be used for each of the five days of National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March) and each will be live at more than 20 job centres in ten cities across the country.

The campaign comes as research from HEE has revealed misconceptions about apprenticeships still prevail amongst school and college pupils:

• 86% of those young people in education believe apprenticeships are only for those looking to pursue a trade such as plumbing and engineering.
• 37% of 14-18 year olds believe existing apprenticeships are geared more towards boys than girls and a further 59% said they believe all apprenticeships are badly paid.
• 49% of young people said they didn’t believe apprenticeships were available in the jobs or careers they are interested in, demonstrating a significant lack of awareness of the variation of apprenticeships available in the NHS and beyond.
• Some 1,500 14-18 year olds in secondary or tertiary education, 18-45 year olds not in education or training (NEETs) and 25–45 year olds looking to change careers were surveyed.

Kirk Lower, HEE’s National Lead for Apprenticeships said: “Using our Snapchat Geofilters in and around job centres allows us to target a younger demographic, who we know are actively looking for work. As well as very specifically pinpointing our audience at a time when they are job-hunting, we are doing it in a creative way that will hopefully appeal to that younger demographic. One of the challenges we have is making people aware of the opportunities for apprenticeships in the NHS and the diverse range of more than 150 different roles on offer.”

The NHS in England has committed to creating 100,000 apprenticeships – almost seven times the current number – across the country by 2020. There were nearly 20,000 apprenticeships recruited into training position in 2015/16.

The ten cities targeted in HEE’s first Snapchat Geofilter campaign will be: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle and Sunderland.

Source: Net Imperative

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