Cumbria employers in national top 10 - as voted for by young people

Barrow shipyard owners BAE Systems and GSK and Siemens, which have operations in Ulverston, are all featured in the Top 70 School Leavers Employers Table for 2017, published by website RateMyApprenticeship.co.uk.

This is based on more than 3,300 reviews from users of the site, which is designed to help young people make informed career choices and covers apprenticeships, degree apprenticeships, traineeships, gap year programmes and work experience opportunities.

BAE was the best-performing of the Furness trio and came fourth in the list, GSK were sixth and Siemens came seventh.

Top spot overall went to consumer good giant Unilever. IT firm Cap Gemini, National Grid, engineering firm Leonardo, merchant bank J.P. Morgan, consumer firm Savers and accountants PwC completing the top 10.

Ollie Sidwell, co-founder of RateMyApprenticeship.co.uk commented “Young people have never had as many options as they do now; university is no longer the only route to high achieving jobs and apprenticeships are not just for tradespeople.

"Apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular as young people start to realise that university may not necessarily be for them. It’s easy to see why as there are 28,045 opportunities from the Top 70 Employers, in a wide variety of industries and roles that are sure to attract a great number of school leavers.

"As the government continues to increase the cap on tuition fees, apprenticeships can offer a lifeline to so many young people, giving them the chance to earn and learn on the job. It is worth pointing out that we have seen positive employment outlooks for students after finishing their apprenticeships, whereas life after completing a degree is not always certain.

"We believe it’s vital that young people know and understand all their options before making difficult decisions that will affect their future career, which is why we are proud to have created the Top 70 School Leaver Employers Table 2017.”