Apprenticeship – Success Stories

The Apprentices on the programme give their thoughts on what the Market Research Executive Apprenticeship has given them and their employers. 

Abbie Burroughs, Research Apprentice, Market Strategy & Understanding Team, Ipsos  “I would highly recommend the Market Research Executive Apprenticeship, as well as the research sector. It’s diverse and I find it rewarding to see how the market can be impacted by the work we do as researchers.”

Lucy Doorbar, Managing Director, LDA Research “As a small firm, it can be difficult to put in the time and resource to give young people the training they need. The apprenticeship is such a valuable way of upskilling recruits, topping up their practical knowledge and skills in a way that supports their work with us.”

Fatima Mitha, Research Executive Apprentice, LDA Research  “Learning with the other apprentices has helped me put the jigsaw together, understanding what the wider sector does and how my work and organisation fit into that.”

Abbie Bradley, Market Research Apprentice, Ipsos UK “I knew I didn’t want to go to university and I’m really glad I made that choice. I’ve learned so much already on the apprenticeship. At university you have to wait years to transfer your learning into a practical situation, whereas I’m putting what Swarm, our training provider, teaches me immediately into practice in my work. And our employers benefit too from the different experiences and viewpoints we all bring to our teams. It’s a win-win.”

Louise Maycock, UK Head of Talent, Ipsos UK   “In our research, reaching broad demographics is crucial but it can be challenging, as we all have unconscious biases based on our backgrounds and experiences. We see the apprenticeship scheme as a great way to help us tackle this. Too often companies only focus on graduate schemes – the schemes are brilliant but diversifying our hiring pool and providing different ways for people to enter the sector will be critical for us to keep improving our ability to reach and understand the whole UK population.”

How it started, by Chris Perry, CIC CEO, Swarm Training

Swarm got involved back in very early 2020 during Trailblazer process and it was very clear to me then that there was a significant need for a new entry route into the Market Research industry. Up until then, the usual way people got into the industry was either through accident with side steps in career or through Graduate training programs but here was an opportunity to break down the social and academic barriers to entry and open up the opportunity to anyone over the age of 16 who had the will and drive to do so.

We enrolled our first pilot cohort in December 2021, and since then have enrolled nearly 50 apprentices onto the programme across the country.

As I write this we are thrilled to say that we have had our first two learners pass their apprenticeship with flying colours and five others are just completing their learning and sitting their end assessments.

So far the programme has been a success, with a 98% retention rate and a hugely diverse range of apprentices enrolled onto the programme ranging from ages 17 to 40. What I was specifically pleased to see is that 60% of these do not hold a degree level qualification which means the programme really is starting to make a difference in breaking down the academic and indeed social barriers to entering the sector.

The Market Research Executive Apprenticeship is a real honour to deliver, and we have had the privilege to work with the MRS and an amazing range of employers from small innovative research companies to large multinational employers including some truly global brands.

This has transformed our business and helped grow our organisation as not only has the apprenticeship given new career opportunities, some of the companies who have enrolled apprentices onto the Market Research Apprenticeship have since also taken on other apprentices and upskilled existing employees with us in other disciplines such as Business Admin, management and Payroll.

This is a truly amazing Apprenticeship and now the pilot has been successfully completed I hope that many more organisations across the sector will look to use the Market Research apprenticeship to support their recruitment aims moving forward. 

The Market Research Executive Apprenticeship: The apprenticeship is suitable for school leavers aged 18 years and older or as an upskilling pathway to develop employees/workers already within a research role e.g., interviewers.  The apprenticeship standard can be viewed here. The typical duration of the apprenticeship is 18 months, this does not include the End Point Assessment period.