National Apprenticeship Week is celebrated at TalkTalk, for both current and past learners. This year, the theme is Skills For Life and aligns with one of TalkTalk’s core company values – We Challenge. We challenge ourselves and each other – to be and do better. For us and for our customers.

Sam Davys MBE, Equality and Future Talent Manager, leads on all things development – from supporting our colleagues exploring new opportunities, to partnering with local educational institutions for the future. We asked her why investing in young talent in the workplace is so important…

Tell us about your role – Equality and Future Talent Manager.

I am responsible for all things Early Careers at TalkTalk, whether that is managing all our apprenticeship programmes, connecting with our local schools, colleges and universities to inspire

the next generation of work, or creating employment opportunities for young people early in their careers. I also have more recently took on the privilege of leading on Diversity and Inclusion within the business – managing our employee networks and driving initiatives to ensure we are a representative organisation and equally an inclusive place to work.

You’re leading the charge at TalkTalk for future talent – how?

Since moving our head office to the North West, we’ve been working hard to make great partnerships with our local universities, such as UA92, University of Salford, to name a few. We believe it’s important to engage students before they enter the world of work to showcase what it’s like once they graduate. So we do a range of things to get in front of students, whether that’s delivering guest lectures, providing business mentors, giving them live business projects, work experience etc, we want to be at the forefront of their minds when graduating.

What’s been the most exciting / biggest accomplishment in your career?

I would have to say being on the King’s first New Year’s Honours list for 2023 and receiving an MBE for services to young people and inclusion within digital industries is by far my highlight! A few weeks before Christmas I had a call from the cabinet office to tell me the news. I was nominated for the work I did leading on a project called the Kickstart Scheme. It was a government initiative in 2021, encouraging businesses to provide 6-month placements for young people who were unemployed as a result of the pandemic. We had never done anything like this in TalkTalk so it was a brand new initiative for us, but we managed to provide around 100 young people paid employment, and resulted in almost 50% of them securing further work with us through extended fixed term roles, apprenticeships or permanent jobs. It was an incredible experience for us, and hopefully them, as it opened our eyes to bringing in fresh talent with new perspectives, and see that sometimes the right behaviours and attitudes outweigh experience, and gave the young people some meaningful paid experience which then resulted in some of them finding a new career they may never have considered before! I recently did a podcast where I talk more about this: Walking the Walk: Sam Davys: MBE, Mother, Motivator on Apple Podcasts

How important do you think it is for an employer to encourage development and progression?

I always say, learning doesn’t stop once you leave education – it just carries on throughout your career. I think it’s really important for businesses to invest in their people to encourage and continue development. A great way to do this is through apprenticeships. It’s National Apprenticeship Week this week and the theme is skills for life. I work hard to change perceptions about apprenticeships in the fact they are for people at all levels of experience. Apprenticeships are available for entry level right up to achieving a masters degree, and we have colleagues on so many different courses to support their professional development. They are a great tool for implementing learning into practice and are really flexible with work. We partner with some fantastic providers and have introduced some brilliant initiatives to support our diversity and inclusion agenda too. For example, utilising management apprenticeships to address better female representation at senior levels, which has seen a 70% rate of promotion since being on the programme – so you can be really strategic with apprenticeships.

And how can companies do better?

Changing mindset, thinking differently, seeing long term gains rather than all short-term quick wins. People studying at university pay around £9k a year so want and need good quality learning with a smooth transition into work. Their expectations are different now, they may not have long term plans but will have a whole load of ambition. So businesses need to give them dedicated support to thrive and not get lost. That way, you will identify talent of the future and nurture and progress them.

Any advice to people starting out their career? Is it about planning, goals or upskilling – or a mixture of the three?

There is a lot of pressure on young people these days to know what they want to do. My advice to them is to take every opportunity in front of you. Find yourself a mentor and be curious about what other people do. If development is being offered, take it, build on your personal brand, create a LinkedIn profile and be savvy and brave when approaching professionals or businesses. I’ve always found people tend to like helping others out, so ask – what’s the worst that can happen!?