On a cool spring morning last month, Joe Saunders walked through the doors of VTSL as the company’s first ever apprentice. “We are really excited about hiring apprentices, and couldn’t be happier Joe is on board. He has already displayed exceptional IT know-how, a great attitude and an aptitude for learning our business,” said Robert Walton, CEO of the London-based hosted business phone service provider.
 
Joe was at Strodes College in Egham when he heard about the apprentice scheme through QA, an apprentice scheme training provider. He applied through QA’s recruitment day, interested in beginning work in the real world and learning new skills—while also earning money. After being accepted by the programme, Joe was matched with VTSL who had also signed up with QA as a business looking for apprentices that were interested in technology, hosted VoIP, business phone service and network connectivity. Joe passed his interview at VTSL with flying colours, and was offered the job immediately.
 
The apprenticeship is one year long and full time, including 9 weeks of training with QA through which Joe will receive 3 City & Guilds qualifications. This will be followed by the CCNA exam (Cisco Certified Network Assistant) which will help Joe pursue a career in technology or telecoms. After the year is up Joe will then be able to stay at VTSL as an employee, move to another hosted VoIP business phone service provider, or pursue something else all together.
 
Joe has been immediately embraced as part of the team at VTSL, fitting into the culture well and exceeding expectations with his first projects. His head-start knowledge in VoIP and telecoms most likely stems from his natural interest in IT, which is balanced by social activities like skateboarding and hanging out with friends in his free time. Interesting facts about Joe include: his favourite food is Eton Mess, his favourite part of London is Camden and his IT skills are 100% self-taught!
 
VTSL is a hosted VoIP business phone system provider based in Wandsworth and part of the QA Apprenticeships. For more information on joining VTSL as an apprentice please email info@vtsl.net.