Investing in our youth’s futures

Although safety and sustainability has always been at the forefront of our work here at Volvo, the culture we’ve created and the people we choose to employ is just as important to us. We are constantly striving towards bettering our future and that applies to all aspects of our company – sustainability, electrification, safety, and our future employees.

For over 20 years, we have offered apprenticeships in the hopes of equipping our youth with the necessary skills and knowledge they need to work towards a successful career. We have had many apprentices come through our doors, all joining different teams throughout the business, with some working in our head offices and others with our retailers. The history of Volvo is one filled with many cultural achievements, of successful employees that continue to innovate and develop our company to new heights. Throughout our years, we’ve had incredible employees rise to a variety of roles within the business through our apprenticeship programme, and as our history continues to grow, our list of apprentices is continuously growing too.

David started his career with us back in 1999 when he joined our Warranty team as part of our Modern Apprenticeship programme. After completing his qualification, Dave was offered a permanent position and has successfully been working his way up within the company, exploring new areas of the business to get to where he is now. Today, following another promotion, Dave is working as our National Fleet Operations Lead, with a team of 4 under his supervision.

At the young age of 16, Connie joined our Customer Care team as an apprentice. Within 12 months of joining our company, she had completed her Level 2 Business Administration qualification and was presented with two options within the company: join the Customer Care team as a permanent team member or complete her Level 3 qualification as an apprentice for another year. Choosing to join Volvo as a full-time employee, Connie has worked her way up the ladder, taking on more responsibilities and even a team of five members, to guide and lead.

In 2021 Volvo decided to take part in a government funded scheme, known as “The Kickstart Scheme”. The scheme encouraged businesses to create temporary roles for 16–24-year old’s who were on Universal Credit, providing them with career and life skills that would make them more employable in the future.

With seven Kickstarters across various sectors of the business joining us in April of that year, majority of the group stayed with us for the maximum period of 6 months. Out of the total seven, two of the Kickstarters decided to stay longer and one was eventually offered an apprenticeship position, while the other moved to a permanent role to work for our sister company, Polestar, in Australia.

We currently have seven apprentices employed within Volvo headquarters, who joined us between December 2021 and June 2022. All our apprentices are in the process of completing part-time educational qualifications alongside their jobs and will remain at Volvo between 18 months and 2 years with the aim of this leading to secure themselves a full-time position within the business.

Our apprentices all have the opportunity to explore countless business sectors, work on multiple company projects and meet new colleagues, all while studying towards their respective qualifications. It truly is the opportunity of a lifetime and provides our apprentices with exposure to working in the real world, giving them the skills and knowledge to decide what is best for their futures.

If you or someone you know is interested in joining Volvo as an apprentice, make sure to keep an eye on our job’s portal for future vacancies here.