North West-based FHL Cloud Solutions is recruiting twelve apprentices in order to grow its business and give young people with an interest in cloud computing the opportunity to begin their careers.

The consultancy, which is based in Crewe, is working with CLM Associates (UK) Ltd to deliver a 12 month City and Guild’s accredited apprenticeship programme which is bespoke to its business and which will include specialist on-the-job training in this exciting arena.

FHL Cloud Solutions uses cloud-based solutions to help businesses increase efficiency. The consultancy’s award-winning team has a strong track record of successfully delivering cloud solutions to more than 100 businesses, helping them to overcome common business challenges such as rapid growth, new acquisitions, a change in ownership or relocation.

The consultancy works with a wide range of businesses, such as organisations in the wine industry, e-commerce and retail, medical and accountancy sectors.

This recruitment drive comes off the back of FHL Cloud Solutions recently winning the prestigious NetSuite’s European Solution Provider of the Year 2014 for an incredible fourth consecutive year.

Andrew Peddie, managing director of FHL Cloud Solutions, said:

“We are passionate about giving young people the opportunity to make that first step in their career and to get the skills and qualifications they need to succeed in the industry.

“We have been working with CLM Associates for two years now and have already taken on 7 youngsters as part of our apprenticeship programme. It has been really successful so far, and the beauty of combining classroom learning with on-the-job training, is that our apprentices learn the skills that work best for our business.

“If the twelve youngsters do well with us over the next 12 months and enjoy working within our business, it is very much our intention to offer them a permanent position at the end of their apprenticeship. We have ambitious expansion plans for the business over the coming months so it’s great for us to find young people who are enthusiastic and eager to forge a career in the cloud computing industry.”

The twelve apprentices will begin their programme with eight weeks classroom-based learning at CLM Associate’s specialist training facility. During this time, senior staff from FHL Cloud Solutions will visit the academy and provide bespoke training tailored to their business.

After that, they will spend the rest of their training programme at FHL Cloud Solutions, gaining work-based qualifications and hands-on experience in the cloud computing field.

Claire McLellan, director at CLM Associates, said:

“FHL Cloud Solutions has an excellent training programme for their apprentices, which the youngsters we have so far placed with them have really enjoyed.

“Andrew and the team also really care about making sure that their apprentices get the most out of their time with them, so provide opportunities in every part of the business, as well as excellent ongoing support and mentoring.

“This is a unique programme specifically designed and delivered for FHL Cloud Solutions and we have not placed this number of apprentices in one go at one organisation in the past, but because we have such a great relationship with Andrew and because he really sees the value of taking on apprentices, we are confident that these ten youngsters will really flourish under his guidance.”