Publishing Apprenticeship Skills Coach

LDN Apprenticeships is the only provider of the Level 3 Publishing Assistant Apprenticeship in the country. We are working with many of the biggest names in UK Academic and Trade publishing to build an incredible alternative pathway into the publishing industry. Our groundbreaking publishing Apprenticeship programme is the first of its kind and our mission is to make it the best way for anyone to enter the publishing industry and become a well-rounded junior publishing professional.

Publishing Assistant Apprenticeship

The job

The Publishing Skills Coach will take responsibility for the coordination and delivery of our Publishing Apprenticeships. This will require a good and broad level of knowledge acquired as a result of prior work experience in the publishing industry. We recognise that as a publishing professional, you are likely to have deep experience of a few areas of the publishing process (for example, editorial) and we understand that. We also understand that you may only have experience in either trade publishing or academic publishing. Regardless of your experience, because our apprentices work for academic and trade publishers and in a multitude of roles, you will need to be able to speak with confidence about all areas of our curriculum, from design and production to to sales, Marketing and PR.

You will start with apprentices already on programme, and this element of the job will involve supporting each individual apprentice to achieve their potential at work and to achieve the qualifications linked to their apprenticeship. This entails developing an in depth understanding of the apprenticeship standard and our methodology for delivering and assessing against the requirements of the standard. It also includes the induction, support, teaching and assessment of apprentices. You will be expected to obtain or hold the Level 3 Award in Education and Training qualification, and will be given training on the assessment process (EPA) for apprenticeship standards.

In normal times, Skills Coaches are required to travel to various client offices to deliver assessments and one to one training and support, and to help learners to contextualise their job roles in relation to their apprenticeship through a series of projects. (NOTE: In light of Covid-19, this element of the role is currently being performed on a completely remote basis.)

You will become adept at using our Learning Management Systems and you will use these and other tools to ensure that apprentices receive timely constructive feedback which enables them to make the required progress in relation to their programme. You will work closely with the apprentices’ line managers to ensure that apprentices are performing well in work and that as a result of the apprenticeship, they develop the required knowledge, skills and behaviours to make them successful publishing professionals. 

What you’ll bring

• You have recent and broad experience of working in the publishing industry and you want to be a part of sharing that knowledge with the next generation of publishing professionals.
• You have the ability to build strong and lasting relationships with learners and employers, helping them to find practical and mutually beneficial solutions to problems.
• You are a people-person who enjoys learning and growing, personally and professionally.
• You are passionate about helping young people start their careers at amazing companies and this inspires you to deliver the best training possible.
• You are flexible and understand commercial need that enables awesome businesses to be able to work with and provide opportunities for Apprentices.
• You will be expected to obtain or hold the Level 3 Award in Education and Training qualification and will be given training on the assessment process (EPA) for apprenticeship standards.

What you’ll be doing

Course Development

With the support of our expert team, we’ll need you to help us put the finishing touches to our publishing apprenticeship curriculum. We’ll buy in support for some of this, and we’ll use existing resources where available, but we’ll also need you to do lots of leg work to finaliuse a fantastic first iteration of the programme. Once the programme is finalised, you will need to regularly update and improve the content in the apprenticeship by working closely with our content team.

Workplace Training

Once the apprenticeship is live, we’ll need you to get out there to start seeing your apprentices in action and supporting them to get better and better at their jobs. You’ll meet up one to one with each of your apprentices on a monthly basis, either via Zoom or in person. (NOTE: This element of the role is currently being conducted on a completely remote basis, via zoom). 

Live Session Delivery

Our apprentices thrive when they are learning from and with one another. You will host regular (at least monthly) live sessions for your apprentices where they are able to ask questions, get help with particular topics and work together in groups on their apprenticeship. These sessions will be flexible but carefully planned to ensure they have the maximum impact on apprentices’ progress.

Masterclasses

You’ll be involved in coordinating the logistics for a series of quarterly masterclasses in partnership with our employers and other contributors from the publishing industry. Line managers, industry experts and other employer representatives will deliver the masterclasses with your help and support. 

Relationship Management

You’ll build strong and lasting relationships with each of the apprentices and employers you support. You’ll be their first port of call for any questions relating to the apprenticeship and they will be confident that if they need help, you’re the person for them to speak to first.

#DoAwesome

You’ll #DoAwesome every day, bringing your unique brand of Energy, Enthusiasm, Willingness to Learn, Ability to take Feedback and Propensity to take action to each of the relationships you form in your job.

About us

The link between education and work is broken. We are building the solution.

LDN Apprenticeships was founded in 2010 in response to the high levels of youth unemployment in London that were caused by the 2008 financial crash. There were literally millions of young people who had no way of getting their foot in the door at awesome companies.

We saw an opportunity to use apprenticeships as a tool to connect businesses and young people from all backgrounds to one another. Back then, we focused much of our work in the technology sector – many of our clients and apprenticeships were designed to address the acute skills shortages in the tech cluster in east London (hence the name, LDN Apprenticeships).

Since then we've moved further afield, and we’ve used our track record in designing apprenticeships to launch a number of exciting new apprenticeships that solve problems in specific industries. Apprenticeships for the Salesforce.com ecosystem and for the Publishing Industry are two of our most recent creations.

We are proud to be at the forefront of developing new and innovative apprenticeships which solve talent problems in specific industries at the same time as giving apprentices the opportunity of a highly successful career.

Where we’re headed

LDN Apprenticeships has ambitious plans for growth over the next five years and we’re recruiting awesome people to join our diverse and vibrant team.

By 2025, we’re on a mission to:

• Create 10 new industry-specific apprenticeship pathways
• Kickstart the careers of 3,000 apprentices
• Prove our model and test it in one overseas market

We care deeply about our apprentices and the companies that support them and everything we do revolves around improving the experience that they have with us. Our values underpin everything we do. Our people are:

Resourceful and they get things done

Finish what you start

Be a problem solver

Be innovative and excited to grow

Helpful, approachable and inclusive

Being helpful does not mean doing stuff for people

Make yourself available

Celebrate difference

Flexible and Resilient

Change is constant, so flexibility is essential

Be brave and don't give in

Don't be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try

Curious and they take initiative

Be hungry for knowledge

Be a maximiser (take something strong and make it superb)

Put your hand up

Humbly confident

Know your stuff, but don’t be arrogant

Be teachable; you’re not perfect

Be cool, calm and collected

Benefits

 If you join LDN Apprenticeships, you’ll have the opportunity to change lives, one person and one business at a time. Our purpose is at the heart of everything we do, so if doing good is as important to you as building a successful commercial business, look no further.

  We also offer some cool practical benefits, which we think you might like:  

• 25 days of holiday + bank holidays
• Flexible working / home working for much of the role
• 4 day week available on request
• Extra day of holiday for every year of service
• Workplace pension with 3% contribution
• Purchase and sell holiday through salary sacrifice
• Quarterly and annual prizes for top performers in the business
• Monthly team breakfasts alongside strategy updates and team briefings
• Regular social events for staff, Summer and Christmas parties

Learning and Development

We are a learning organisation. We believe that our people are at their best when they are learning new things and confronting new challenges. Every member of our team gets a subscription to LinkedIn Learning. We actively support our staff to continuously develop their knowledge and skills, and where possible we provide financial support.

Salary

£35,000 to £40,000 per annum dependent on experience