Early Careers and Apprenticeship Specialist in Accrington

Location: The Globe

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Department: Learning & Development

Contract: Maternity Cover

Ready to help shape the next generation of Bensons talent? At Bensons, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and build a career they can be proud of. That's where you come in! We're looking for an Early Careers & Apprenticeship Specialist to join our Learning & Development team on a maternity cover basis. You'll play a key role in managing our apprenticeship programmes across the business, while also helping us deliver exciting early careers initiatives. From supporting an apprentice on their first day to helping them reach the finish line, you'll be there throughout the journey — making sure our learners and managers have the support they need to succeed.

What will you be doing?

• You'll be the go-to person for all things apprenticeships and early careers, including:
• Managing apprenticeship activity across our Retail and Manufacturing teams, making sure everything runs smoothly and our levy funding is used effectively.
• Coordinating apprentices throughout their journey, from application and onboarding through to completion.
• Working closely with apprentices, managers, People Partners and training providers to make sure everyone gets the support they need.
• Keeping track of learner progress, spotting any challenges early and helping to remove barriers.
• Managing our apprenticeship records, systems and Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) activity, ensuring everything is accurate and up to date.
• Building strong relationships with our training providers and early careers partners.
• Supporting early careers initiatives such as work experience, workplace visits, site visits, university placements and other programmes.
• Supporting DWP Youth Jobs Grant and Youth Guarantee activity.
• Helping with wider Learning & Development activity, including corporate and support-function inductions.
• Ultimately, you'll help make sure our apprentices and early careers talent have a positive, supportive and genuinely valuable experience at Bensons.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for someone who is organised, people-focused and passionate about helping others develop. You'll ideally have experience coordinating learning, development, apprenticeships, early careers or another similar people programme. You'll also need to be:

• Great at building relationships and communicating with people at all levels.
• Highly organised, with the ability to manage multiple priorities at once.
• Someone who pays attention to the detail and keeps accurate records.
• Confident working with data and producing reports and management information.
• Comfortable using digital systems and Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
• Proactive and able to work independently, taking ownership when something needs sorting.
• Supportive and approachable, with the ability to coach and guide both learners and managers.
• Passionate about creating an inclusive and positive experience for people starting their careers.

And it would be a bonus if you have...

• Experience with apprenticeship levy funding, the Digital Apprenticeship Service, training providers, universities or colleges would be great.
• We'd also love to hear from you if you've supported work experience or placement programmes, have safeguarding experience, or have delivered inductions or training sessions.

Why Bensons?

This isn't just a role where you'll manage spreadsheets and tick boxes (although there will definitely be a little bit of that too!). You'll have a real opportunity to make a difference to people's careers, working with colleagues across our Retail, Manufacturing, Warehouse & Distribution, Customer Service and Support teams. You'll join a friendly Learning & Development team where your ideas, organisation and people skills will genuinely make an impact. If you're passionate about helping people learn, grow and take their first steps into the world of work, we'd love to hear from you. Come and join us at Bensons and help us create better nights' sleep — and better career journeys — for our people.