Apprentices at a Lowestoft-based holiday company have spoken about their roles and future prospects with Waveney MP Peter Aldous.

The visit to Hoseasons, as part of National Apprenticeship Week, allowed Mr Aldous to spend the morning with employees – finding out what working life is like, their day-to-day routines, the value of an apprenticeship and their career progression.

Hoseasons has recruited 22 apprentices on three separate programmes since the start of the 2015/16 academic year.

The majority of the 16 to 25 year olds work across sales and customer service – with two digital design apprentices working as part of the marketing team.

Matt Smith, head of HR at Hoseasons, based on Raglan Street said: 'We had a round table discussion along with emphasising the importance of the collaboration between Hoseasons, Lowestoft College, private partners and apprenticeship brokers – to deliver our high calibre apprenticeship programme.

'Mr Aldous spent a good couple of hours with us and was keen to find out about what we do and we spoke to him about our growth plans as a company.

'We want to bring real young talent into the business and we are investing time and training for their personal development.'

Keen to emphasise support of Lowestoft College in relation to the digital apprentices, Mr Smith added: 'It is a tailor made apprenticeship programme for us, we can go to them with a specific skill set and we aim to recruit on attitudes, behaviour and talents.

'They can then provide people with the skills that we need, and with a combination of the two, we can run a really successful scheme.'

Mr Aldous said: 'I was very impressed and I really enjoyed meeting the apprentices at Hoseasons.

'Apprenticeships are very important in giving young people a greater opportunity in life, and a great start to their business careers.'

Sam Hubbard, 16, and Tom Annis, 21, were chosen ahead of dozens of other hopefuls as Hoseasons' first digital design apprentices last year.

Both are working on projects across the business, while studying for their Level 3 Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Creative and Digital Media.

'Tom and Sam have both made flying starts to their new careers at Hoseasons,' said marketing director Anthony Reilly.

'They have settled into the marketing team fantastically well and are already adding a fresh perspective as we continue to embrace new technologies to connect with our customers.'

Hoseasons are also undergoing an office refurbishment, which they plan to unveil on April, 28.

Do you know someone who has benefitted from an apprenticeship programme? Email: joe.randlesome@archant.co.uk