image by Stephen O’Donnell on Unsplash  

Purpose

This report gives a statistical summary of Level 10 apprenticeship vacancies posted in Scotland during the two-year period between 1^st June 2022 (when I first started recording them) and 31^st May 2024.

The data tables below offer an insight into the kinds of occupations that have been available and how they’ve been distributed regionally. Degree partners, minimum entry grades and starting salaries are also analysed and I’ve added a list of all the employers who have posted multiple vacancies during the period covered.

My reports also include a summary of the process I use and how it all started, which can be found in the ‘Footnote’ section at the bottom of the page.  

Headline data

During the period from 1^st June 2022 to 31^st May 2024 I’ve now recorded:

• 1,100 new apprenticeship vacancies in Scotland at SCQF Level 10/11 or equivalent that would be open to students leaving school/college after completing Scottish Highers or equivalent qualifications. 

Analysis by occupation

The 1,100 vacancies are broken down into what I loosely define as ‘occupational areas’, which in some cases differ from official terminology. Since 1^st June 2022 the complete list of occupational areas is given below, and I think it provides a useful insight into what the prominent and emerging careers are in an evolving career landscape.

  247 Accountants / Audit Professionals   

  138 Software Engineers/Developers

    94 Design & Manufacturing Engineers

    76 Civil Engineers 

    71 Quantity Surveyors

    70 Tax Professionals

    58 Business Managers/Consultants

    43 Data Scientists 

    37 IT Business Managers (ITMB)

    36 Construction Site Managers

    26 Digital Technology Professionals (general)

    24 Cyber Security Professionals

    23 Retail Leaders

    21 Construction Project Managers

    15 Banking & Financial Services Professionals

    15 Electrical Engineers

    15 General Practice Surveyors

    13 Building Services Design Engineers

    11 Building Surveyors     

      8 Instrumentation Measurement & Control Engineers

      7 Project Managers (general)

      6 Architectural / Design & Construction Engineers

      6 Combat Systems Engineers

      4 Electronic Engineers

      3 Broadcasting & Media Systems Engineers

      3 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Engineers

      3 Project Controls Professionals

      3 Supply Chain Professionals    

      2 Bid & Proposal Writers/Co-ordinators

      2 Business Development / Sales Professionals

      2 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers

      2 Early Learning & Childcare Professionals

      2 Estimators (Construction)

      2 Food Manufacturing Managers

      2 Food Technologists

      2 Journalists

      2 Nuclear Engineers

      1 Business Analyst

      1 Human Resources Manager

      1 Laboratory Scientist (Chemistry)

      1 Logistics Support Engineer 

      1 Net Zero Carbon & Sustainability Engineer

      1 Technical Publications Designer

Analysis by town/city

In terms of location, the 1,100 apprenticeships advertised in Scotland during this period have been distributed as follows (with council area in brackets):

• 444 Glasgow (Glasgow City)
• 241 Edinburgh (City of Edinburgh)
•   93 Aberdeen (Aberdeen City)
•   32 Inverness (Highland)
•   24 Perth (Perth & Kinross) 
•   21 Livingston (West Lothian)  
•   13 Irvine (North Ayrshire)
•   12 Cumbernauld (North Lanarkshire)
•   12 Paisley (Renfrewshire)
•   11 Lerwick (Shetland Islands)
•   11 Motherwell (North Lanarkshire)
•   11 Nationwide
•   10 Newbridge (City of Edinburgh)
•     9 Dundee (Dundee City)
•     9 Dunfermline (Fife)
•     9 Tweedbank (Scottish Borders)
•     8 Glenrothes (Fife)      
•     7 Bellshill (North Lanarkshire)
•     7 Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire)    
•     6 Helensburgh (Argyll & Bute)
•     5 Bridge of Weir (Renfrewshire)
•     5 Leven (Fife)
•     5 Stirling (Stirling)
•     4 Coatbridge (North Lanarkshire)
•     4 Cumnock (East Ayrshire)
•     4 Dalgety Bay (Fife)
•     4 Inverkeithing (Fife)
•     4 Kelso (Scottish Borders)
•     4 Kirkwall (Orkney Islands)
•     4 Turriff (Aberdeenshire)
•     4 Westhill (Aberdeenshire)
•     3 Currie (City of Edinburgh)
•     3 Grangemouth (Falkirk)
•     3 Hamilton (South Lanarkshire)    
•     3 Peterhead (Aberdeenshire)
•     3 Rosyth (Fife)
•     3 Uddingston (South Lanarkshire)    
•     2 Auchterarder (Perth & Kinross)
•     2 Bathgate (West Lothian)
•     2 Castle Douglas (Dumfries & Galloway)
•     2 Dalkeith (Midlothian)
•     2 Falkirk (Falkirk)
•     2 Hunterston (North Ayrshire)
•     2 Linlithgow (West Lothian)
•     2 Montrose (Angus)
•     2 St Andrews (Fife)    
•     2 Tannochide (North Lanarkshire)
•     1 Arbroath (Angus)
•     1 Ayr (South Ayrshire)    
•     1 Beith (North Ayrshire)
•     1 Brechin (Angus)
•     1 Crieff (Perth & Kinross)
•     1 Dingwall (Highland)
•     1 Dounreay (Highland)
•     1 Dumbarton (West Dunbartonshire)
•     1 Earlston (Scottish Borders)
•     1 Elgin (Moray)
•     1 Fort William (Highland)
•     1 Golspie (Highland)   
•     1 Hillington (Glasgow City) 
•     1 Holytown (North Lanarkshire)
•     1 Inchinnan (Renfrewshire)
•     1 Kintore (Aberdeenshire)
•     1 Loanhead (Midlothian)
•     1 Lochgilphead (Argyll & Bute)    
•     1 Milngavie (East Dunbartonshire)
•     1 Oban (Argyll & Bute)   
•     1 Prestwick (South Ayrshire)
•     1 Thurso (Highland)
•     1 Torness Point (East Lothian)
•     1 Wick (Highland)
•     1 Remote-working

Analysis by council area

This list breaks down the same data by council area:

• 445 Glasgow City
• 254 City of Edinburgh
•   93 Aberdeen City
•   38 Highland
•   37 North Lanarkshire  
•   35 Fife    
•   27 Perth & Kinross 
•   25 West Lothian
•   18 Renfrewshire
•   16 North Ayrshire
•   14 Scottish Borders
•   13 South Lanarkshire
•   12 Aberdeenshire
•   11 Shetland Islands
•   11 Nationwide
•     9 Dundee City
•     8 Argyll & Bute
•     5 Falkirk
•     5 Stirling
•     4 Angus
•     4 East Ayrshire
•     4 Orkney Islands
•     3 Midlothian
•     2 Dumfries & Galloway
•     2 South Ayrshire
•     1 East Dunbartonshire
•     1 East Lothian
•     1 Moray
•     1 West Dunbartonshire
•     1 Remote-working
•     0 Clackmannanshire    
•     0 East Renfrewshire
•     0 Inverclyde
•     0 Outer Hebrides

Analysis by university partners

This is a list of universities or other education/training providers who have partnered with employers in the delivery of the apprenticeships listed above, where this was known:

• 190 Glasgow Caledonian
• 176 Strathclyde
• 125 Heriot-Watt
•   99 Edinburgh Napier
•   62 Robert Gordon
•   47 BPP 
•   25 Glasgow
•   11 Dundee
•   11 West of Scotland
•     8 Highlands & Islands
•     5 Stirling    
•     2 Babington
•     2 National College for Nuclear (Somerset)
•     2 Sheffield Hallam
•     2 Teesside
•     1 Coventry
•     1 Cumbria
•     1 Manchester Metropolitan   
•     1 University College of Estate Management
•     1 West of England (Bristol)

Analysis by minimum entry requirements

This is a simplified list of stated minimum entry requirements (where known), expressed as either Scottish Higher grades or UCAS points, and the number of apprenticeship vacancies requiring them:

• 394   BBBB
•   88   104 points
•   87   BBCC
•   68   120 points
•   65   BBBC
•   38   ABBB
•   38   112 points
•   25   AAAB
•   20   96 points   
•   19   CCCC
•   13   BBDD  
•   12   BBBBC
•   11   AABB 
•     7   BBBBB  
•     4   AAAB/ABBBB
•     4   CCC
•     3   BBB
•     3   BBC   
•     1   CC    
•     1   128 points

Analysis by minimum starting salaries

In this table I’ve listed the aggregated minimum starting salaries for all vacancies for which this information was available. (£29,000+ denotes a minimum starting salary of between £29,000 and £29,999, and so on.)

•     1   £29,000+
•     3   £27,000+
•     2   £26,000+
•   22   £25,000+
•   36   £24,000+
•   51   £23,000+
• 114   £22,000+  
• 176   £21,000+
• 106   £20,000+
•   82   £19,000+
•   96   £18,000+
•   31   £17,000+
•   21   £16,000+
•   20   £15,000+
•   27   £14,000+
•   19   £13,000+
•     5   £12,000+
•     3   £11,000+
•     7   £10,000+
•     4   £9,000+
•     3   £8,000+

Employers posting multiple vacancies during the period

All of these employers have had nine or more vacancies posted during the period covered by this report:

• Accenture
• Arcadis
• Atkins Realis
• BAE Systems
• Balfour Beatty
• BAM
• Barclays
• BBC
• CGI
• Deloitte
• EY
• Gallagher
• Graham Group
• Graham & Sibbald
• Grant Thornton
• JP Morgan
• KPMG
• Leonardo
• McDonalds
• McLaughlin & Harvey
• Mazars
• Morgan Stanley
• Morrisons
• Public Health Scotland
• RSM
• Saffery
• Scottish Power
• SSE
• Thales Group

Footnote: how the data has been collected

I originally started recording post-18 apprenticeship vacancies in England early in 2020 and that summer I began publishing weekly statistical updates. Then on 1^st June 2022 I also started recording vacancies in the three other devolved nations with a view to reporting on these once I’d collated enough useful data.

For Scotland I keep a record of all new Graduate Apprenticeship vacancies at SCQF Level 10 (and where appropriate Level 11) that I spot during my regular searches. I also record other UK-wide apprenticeships of an equivalent level that have vacancies in Scotland. In doing so, I’ve built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis.

I largely use information from the Skills Development Scotland (apprenticeships.scot) website, whilst also keeping a close lookout for other relevant vacancies through my normal UK-wide channels. I only include vacancies that are open to school/college-leavers with Scottish Higher or equivalent qualifications and that lead to a degree-level qualification.

The big advantage of the apprenticeships.scot website is that the actual number of positions is always provided with every vacancy, which isn’t necessarily the case with UK-wide employers who don’t post on the Scottish site. Hence my data will never be fully reliable because it’s sometimes necessary to make conservative estimates of vacancy numbers for a few of these UK-wide employers. On the other hand, I think the benefit of including them is that it gives a more realistic impression of the overall landscape.

Going forward

I hope to continue collecting data and may publish another update in due course.

© Alan Bullock Careers, 5/6/2024

https://alanbullockcareers.com