When Bruce Fanning, director of operations at bespoke corporate events company ACF, wanted to give a valued team member a proper route to progress, he didn’t look outside. He put Luke on an apprenticeship instead.
ACF is a one-stop shop for corporate events, working with businesses from 10 people to 2,000. Their work ranges from team-building and festival-style events to Christmas parties and themed events created around a strategic goal or a company anniversary.
In events, it’s hard to show what you know and where your career could go next. Mark saw that gap clearly, and it was a big part of why ACF chose the apprenticeship route for Luke.
In our industry there aren’t really ways of showing what you know and can do. In the old days you had NVQs, but they didn’t have the practical, hands-on learning that an apprenticeship does.
Luke’s apprenticeship focused on lighting and technical skills rather than sales or marketing. It gave him a recognised qualification and a formal pathway, and it let him build on the knowledge he already had.
Once it was up and running, managing the apprenticeship was smooth. He credits clear communication from MUTI Live throughout, including regular updates on how Luke was progressing and whether he was on track.
No one really likes the paperwork, but you always made sure we knew what to do and when.
Watching Luke complete his end-point assessment was, in Mark’s words, a really proud moment.
The biggest change is in Luke’s confidence. He’s now far more involved in event planning, and he has become the person colleagues turn to for anything health and safety or technical.
Luke has gained so much confidence!
The benefits reach the business’s bottom line too. ACF has just had its best year yet, and while Mark finds it hard to put a figure on Luke’s impact, the practical value is clear: Luke now handles work that ACF would previously have had to buy in.
Without hesitation. Mark’s advice to other events companies is that it’s the best way to keep good people engaged, with progression and purpose. Without that, talented staff can become disengaged and eventually move on.
It’s a no brainer really. You will keep good people this way.
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