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Equip early talent with the essential skills to get workplace ready

Early career employees often have strong technical skills, but may not have had the opportunities to develop essential skills like communication, teamwork, problem solving or self-management.

The Universal Framework bridges this gap with tangible steps to develop the eight essential skills, building strong foundations for success and progression.

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Our ethos is finding the right fit for the Framework for your business.

We are a team of learning professionals all working towards the same mission: for everyone to build the essential skills to succeed.

Our team can:

train your learning and development team to best use the Universal Framework

deliver essential skills programmes directly to early talent cohorts

create tools and resources so you can get the best out of your people

100%
felt the training was well delivered, well organised and clear

100%
felt the training helped them to understand the essential skills

90%
felt the content was relevant to their role

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It’s really encouraging to reflect on the progress I’ve made in the essential skills since starting my Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioner apprenticeship. Prior to this role, I had very little knowledge of these skills which are so vitally important to anyone’s personal and professional development.

Tobias Desouza
Weil, Gotshal & Manges (London) LLP

A portrait of Tobias Desouza wearing a smart pinstripe suit, a navy blue tie and smiling brightly.

I find working with the Skills Builder team very positive. They are very knowledgeable about the framework and how we can explicitly embed the skills.

Laura Carter
PwC

A portrait of Laura Carter wearing a charcoal grey jacket, cream blouse and is smiling warmly.

Develop your early talent’s essential skills

The Essential Skills Academy for Apprentices

he Essential Skills Academy is a complete, practical, training solution that provides you with everything needed to launch, manage, and measure a successful apprentice development programme. It is designed to support your apprentices to understand, articulate, and immediately apply the essential skills required for success in their role.

  • 8 x 2-Hour Cohort Workshops: Ready-made, high-impact modules that offer a manageable time commitment while ensuring comprehensive coverage of the 8 essential skills.
  • Real - World Application Project: A business-focused group project that provides apprentices with an immediate, hands-on opportunity to apply essential skills, consolidating learning and reinforcing value.
  • Facilitation Training, Support & Guidance: Comprehensive resources and training to empower your team. This ensures the programme is simple to implement and provides the flexibility to deliver sessions in-house.
  • Dedicated Line Manager Guides: Targeted materials that directly address the challenge of overburdened mentors, enabling managers to provide high-value support with confidence.
  • Apprentice Learning Record: A dedicated document for apprentices to log their learning and applied skills, which directly contributes evidence for mandatory 20% Off-the-Job (OTJ) hours.
  • Evaluation Surveys: Templates that simplify your administrative burden and provide the data needed to prove ROI and track continuous improvement.
  • Participant Certificate: Formal recognition of successful completion, which boosts apprentice morale.
From £13,500
Download Brochure

Skills Builder Membership

Join us on a year long membership starting with two days of skills development support to implement Skills Builder in your workplace.

From £2,780 a year
Download Membership Brochure

Fancy a demo, or want to chat through some ideas?

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What more could you do with the Universal Framework for Essential Skills?

Map organisational values

Write clear job descriptions

Design interview tasks and assessments

Embed in outreach and work experience

Discover more