Good tradies don’t just happen: Why ATT now offers four ways to build your team

If you’re turning down work because you can’t find the right person, or you’ve already got an apprentice and you’re stretched too thin to support them properly, you’re not the only one. It’s the same story across the trade sector right now: good people are hard to find, and once you’ve found them, keeping them on track takes time most business owners don’t have.

ATT has spent 35 years solving exactly this problem for employers. But for most of that time, we did it one way: through Group Apprenticeships, where ATT employs the apprentice and the business trains them on site. It’s worked well for a lot of businesses. It’s never worked for everyone.

“We kept hearing the same feedback,” says Nicola Dashper, ATT’s Chief Executive. “Employers didn’t want a different provider. They wanted more ways to work with the one they already had.” That feedback is why ATT now offers four ways to build a trade team, not one, all under a single idea: good tradies don’t just happen. They’re built, and every business builds them differently.

Here’s what’s changed. If you want an apprentice without taking on payroll and compliance, GROUP APPRENTICESHIPS still works the way it always has: ATT employs, you train. If you already employ an apprentice and need help keeping them on track, MANAGED APPRENTICESHIPS gives you that support while you stay the employer. If hiring the right person is the actual bottleneck, APPRENTICE RECRUITMENT does the sourcing and screening so you’re choosing from people who are ready. And if the gap isn’t an apprentice at all, just more hands on site for a busy stretch, CASUAL TRADE ASSISTANTS covers that without any long-term commitment.

Most businesses will move between more than one of these as they grow. That’s the point. The right fit today might not be the right fit in six months, and now you don’t have to change provider to change approach.

Does this mean ATT has changed what it does? Not for existing hosts. Group Apprenticeships works exactly as it has for 35 years. What’s changed is that ATT now has three additional ways to work with a business, so the option you’re on today doesn’t have to be the only one available as your needs shift.

Can a business use more than one of these at once? Yes. A business with an apprentice already on board might still bring in Casual Trade Assistants for a few weeks when a big project lands or someone’s on leave. The two work well together: one builds your long-term team, the other covers the gaps in between.

Not sure which one fits your business right now? TAKE THE 30-SECOND TEST and we’ll point you to the right option.