Identifying young people with a keen, positive attitude is the first step to a successful Apprenticeship, according to store manager Grainne Burrows.

Having had success with Apprenticeships in previous stores, she was happy to embrace the scheme when she took over the busy Lewes Argos store last year. Her current Apprentice, Gary Brinkhurst, had found it hard to find work because of his dyslexia, but she says he has become an "excellent member of the team and is doing really well."

The paperwork and stock handling systems at Argos are necessarily more complex than in conventional stores, so good staff training is essential to maintain efficiency and customer focus.

"Provided you select people with the right attitude and a genuine keenness to learn, the Apprenticeship system works very well," said Mrs Burrows."Working towards a recognised qualification gives them the motivation to apply themselves and do well, and the mix of basic and specific skills it provides means that it can benefit a wide range of young people.

"Recruitment can be a problem in retail because some people wrongly see it is as dead-end job, but in fact there are really good career opportunities in the industry, and the Apprenticeship scheme is an excellent entry route."