56 years of specialist apprenticeships

Throughout our history, we have always needed to be experts in security and have the capacity to deal with a wide range of technical problems. The mix of security and technical knowledge required is so specialised that in 1964 we began our technical trainee scheme.

Specialised work

Technology has changed a fair amount since 1964 but whilst the scope of the apprenticeship has evolved, the need for specialists has not. Initially, we supported the Foreign Office’s radio communications and so technicians needed to be familiar with the radio equipment used.

Today, we still support radio communication but it is less central to our work. We deploy, install and maintain a wide range of technical equipment, from Wi-Fi to secure access.

Above all, understanding the way security works in government buildings across the world is particularly important. This is an element of training that is not usually found in engineering apprenticeships, but is at the core of ours.

Opportunities

Our Technical Engineering apprenticeship course includes a combination of college work and placements. These placements can include trips to embassies around the world, to allow apprentices to put theory into action.

A significant proportion of our technical staff entered the organisation through the scheme, and they now help to train our new apprentices.

Since 2014 we have developed several new apprenticeship schemes, as our organisation has grown. We now run 16 schemes, with eight at degree level. These cover a range of areas, including IT, Logistics, Project Management and Finance.

If you are interested in this scheme, or in finding out more about our other apprenticeships, visit our careers site. Applications will open on 2 March 2020.