Modern Apprenticeships at SQA
Our Modern Apprenticeship programmes are a great opportunity to develop your skills and start your career in a supportive and dynamic environment.
Develop skills, gain a qualification, and get paid.
- Work towards a qualification and get on-the-job training
- Get support to identify career goals
- Choose between 1-year and 2-year Modern Apprenticeship programmes
- Get a monthly salary and access to a range of staff benefits
Get qualified
We offer both one- and two-year Modern Apprenticeship programmes where you will gain an industry-recognised qualification that will help you to progress in your future career or further education.
What opportunities can it lead to?
Once you achieve your Modern Apprenticeship, you can choose to apply for a permanent role with SQA or with another employer.
To date, 89% of our Modern Apprenticeship graduates have either secured permanent positions at SQA or gone on to secure employment, further training or education at college or university.
Role summary
As a Modern Apprentice, you will develop your skills by having responsibility for a variety of relevant work activities and business-focused learning opportunities.
You will also work closely with a career development mentor to help you identify your career goals and gain the right experience from the programme.
We will work with you to develop employability skills, and give you the opportunity to demonstrate these throughout your placement. You may also have the opportunity to apply for other roles within SQA once you have completed your apprenticeship.
The support from my line manager and the rest of my team have been so good as they have been very supportive and helpful in order for me to be feeling settled in, they have spent each day teaching me new skills and information.
Where you'll work
We have two office locations - our Lowden office at Shawfair Business Park near Dalkeith on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and our office in Glasgow city centre.
We operate a smarter working programme, so you may not be based in our offices 100% of the time - you may also be asked to work from home.
Benefits
SQA Modern Apprenticeships offer a highly competitive rate of pay, and many other benefits:
- Starting salary - £24,813 per year
- Annual leave - 27 days per calendar year (plus 14 public holidays)
- Savings - make everyday savings with supermarkets, cinemas, holidays, clothing and electronic retailers (through our SQA Lifestyles platform)
- Qualification - an industry recognised qualification in your chosen specialism.
Find out what other SQA benefits are availible to you as a Modern Apprentice.
The team has been excellent in helping me gain new skills and processes. I've found that there is so many people to talk to such as Mentors, Buddies and Line Managers
Entry requirements
The entry requirements for our apprenticeship programmes vary and you can find more detailed information in the job advert for the opportunity that interests you. Programmes are available which have no formal entry requirements.
For both the one- and two-year programmes, you must also be able to show us evidence in your application/interview of the following skills:
- a good level of written and verbal communication skills
- be able to use Microsoft Office including Outlook, Excel, and Word
- an understanding of how to be customer-focused
- be capable of planning your day and prioritising tasks and activities
Apply for a Modern Apprenticeship at SQA
You can choose from the following vacancies:
- Data Analytics
- IT Support Specialist x 2
- Business & Administration (Commercial contracts)
- Business & Administration (International)
- Business & Administration (Chief Executive's Office)