A St Albans boss is speaking out about the benefits of hiring apprentices to fill specialist roles.

Charlie Gordon, 24, has joined signage company Fastsigns as a Level 3 technician apprentice for two-years.

Throughout the course, Charlie will learn the requirements of the printing industry and covers the design, manufacture, fabrication and installation of signage and become familiar with CAD systems.

This follows a period of significant growth for the franchise, which includes the expansion of its workforce and the completion of various projects with high-profile clients.

The franchise recently won an award at the FASTSIGNS UK Convention, taking home the Sales Improvement of the Year Award. 

Commenting on Charlie Gordon joining the team, Lee Simpson of Fastsigns said: “We are delighted to welcome our new apprentice, Charlie, to our team.

"It will be rewarding to see how his skill sets develop during the apprentice programme, supported by our fantastic in-house team of experts.

"The world of signage has changed much in the last two years and, as such, we’ve noticed a real uptick in interest from the younger workforce, in particular, to get involved in the industry.

"We’re eager to show newcomers like Charlie the ropes of the industry, right through from signage assembly and production, to installation.

“I started out as an apprentice, and I truly believe that was a remarkable beginning to my career, and a useful learning curve. We’ve already seen that Charlie has a great work ethic and determination to succeed, so he will make a great addition to our existing team.”