Franchised retailers celebrate apprentices with social media takeover

Drive My Career members have taken part in the second ‘Apprentice Takeover’ campaign to raise awareness of the multiple apprenticeship opportunities in the retail automotive industry on occasion of the National Apprentice Week 2020 which took place between 3 and 9 of February.

Drive My Career is the employment platform launched by the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) in February 2018 to make the retail sector more attractive to young jobseekers and connect potential candidates with their local retailers.

As part of the #DMCApprenticeTakeover campaign, Drive My Career members promoted across their social media channels inspiring apprentices’ case studies through stories, images and videos.

Using the hashtag #DMCApprenticeTakeover the different organisations entered the competition. Across social media, posts with the hashtag #DMCApprenticeTakeover had more than 1.5 million impressions and the campaign reached more than 350,000 different users in a week. Last year, the campaign reached 200,000 users and had 1 million impressions.

Drive My Career members that took part in the initiative showcasing their apprentices included Marshall Motor Group, JCT 600, TrustFord, Caffyns, Pendragon and Arnold Clark.

For the second consecutive year, Marshall Motor Group was the overall winner as they participated with the accounts of several different dealerships across the UK using multiple social media outlets. This year, they involved Marshall’s CEO Daksh Gupta as well as a number of mentors, service and aftersales managers who shared words of encouragement for the apprentices. Additionally, 2020 marked 100 years since the Marshall apprenticeship scheme began and during the week they also celebrated the launch of their Marshall Centre.

JCT600 shared images, quotes and high-quality videos featuring apprentices describing their journey and the reasons they love their careers in the automotive industry. In particular, two videos stood out and one of them won the ‘best post’ prize. These featured a total of six parts and technician apprentices working at JCT600 Porsche Sheffield and JCT600 Porsche Leeds.

TrustFord adopted a different strategy and shared engaging content that showed insights not only into the professional but also the personal lives of their apprentices.

Also, Caffyns, Pendragon and Arnold Clark supported the campaign for the first time.

Pendragon took it to LinkedIn to celebrate its 328 apprentices through inspiring messages. Also, they announced the launch of a brand-new IT apprentice scheme that will see three technical support trainees work alongside experienced Technical Support Consultants.

Arnold Clark shared the story of Harry Chaundy, Apprentice of the Year 2019 at Arnold Clark’s GTG Training. He competed at World Skills UK and, as he came fourth in his category last year, he will be representing the UK at the Shanghai WorldSkills 2021.

Caffyns used Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to share the stories of apprentices who stood out, including Jamie, who came second in the Volvo Apprentice of the Year awards.

The winning apprentices for ‘best overall campaign’ and ‘best post’ will receive £50 vouchers.

Sue Robinson, NFDA Director, said, “It was extremely encouraging to see the inspiring stories apprentices shared during the National Apprenticeship Week 2020. Drive My Career will continue to raise awareness of the variety of exciting and rewarding career opportunities available in the automotive sector. Thanks to our members for their outstanding support”.

Search #DMCApprenticeTakeover on Twitter - LinkedIn - Facebook - Instagram to learn more about the campaign or visit www.drivemycareer.co.uk