Q: What made you choose your apprenticeship?

A: Prior to my apprenticeship, I had worked at a call centre. I had also tried University but didn’t find it the right learning environment for me. I took some time to consider what I wanted to do and tried applying for many business administration roles, but I was not shortlisted due to lack of experience. I then decided to try via the apprenticeship route, and I was successful for the opportunity at Warwick.

Q: What is the best thing about doing an apprenticeship?

A: You have a lot of guidance and engagement. It helps you be adaptable and ready for changes. It develops you including the specific work skills you ned for a role in your chosen career.

I found at Warwick that everyone was very supportive and willing to help me.

Q: What difference do you think studying via an apprenticeship route makes?

A: It helps you build you a portfolio over time and see the progress you are making. You have an assessor helping and guiding you. There is the chance to grow and develop and get involved in lots of new things.

Q: How did Covid-19 affect your apprenticeship?

A: It all moved online. The training provider adapted well and ensured I have a continuous single point of contact which worked well.

Q: What advice would you give to others considering an apprenticeship or to a line manager considering this option for a new or existing staff member?

A: Be willing to learn new things. Don’t be put off with the initial list of areas in your apprenticeship. It can be daunting at first but there is lots of support for you to do it and you will cover all the areas needed by the end of your apprenticeship.

Q: What are you doing now you have finished your apprenticeship? How has your apprenticeship contributed to this?

A: I didn’t have the skills before to get a role like this. It has helped me to gain these skills and secure a permanent role at Warwick.

Line manager comments

We chose to employ an apprentice within our team due to the funding available for the role at the time, something which I’d encourage other areas to utilise. It was great having our apprentice join our team, bringing a new/youthful set of eyes on our existing processes. The pandemic made training a new colleague a challenge, however we made good use of Microsoft Teams and sent lots of emails and screenshots to navigate these challenges.

Now that we are returning to the office bit by bit we are finding a lot more office processes to re-learn in practise instead of hypothetically. I am very proud of our apprentice and all that she has achieved over the past year, as our team is not an easy one to deal with due to the contentious/sensitive issues that we deal with, however she has shown great resilience and a good can-do attitude.