Ruby Barnacle

Q) Tell us about your role?

A) In my role as an apprentice administration assistant, I am working closely with a team of admin assistants across Estates. This includes working closely with different teams and helping them with their general administration tasks. This included things such as emailing, printing, preparing interview packs, processing new starters, doing uniform orders and a lot of things to do with recruitment. I am currently working with Campus Cleaning services and I am helping on reception once a week.

Q) What is the most challenging part of getting into admin?

A) The most challenging part of getting into admin was the fact that I only had minimal experience. Getting an apprenticeship has meant that I can learn on the job and gain experience as I am working. My experience didn’t matter because I am learning as I go and I also did plenty of training at the start of my job to prepare me. This included the mandatory moodles that I had to complete at the start of my apprenticeship as well as some LinkedIn learning courses on excel and outlook that I chose to do myself.

Q) What is your biggest work achievement so far?

A) My biggest work achievement so far is doing pre screen interviews for campus cleaning. These are phone calls that happen before we invite a candidate for an interview to ensure they are suitable. This is something that I felt nervous for as speaking over the phone to new candidates is something that is out of my comfort zone and I feel proud of myself that achieved this. I can now do these phone calls often with confidence and I feel proud that I overcame this fear and achieved this.

Q) How did you discover your apprenticeship and what was the application process?

A) I discovered my apprenticeship when I was browsing on the university website to look for a job. I was searching for a job for quite a while after deciding I didn’t want to go to university myself, but I didn’t have much luck. I had heard that the university was a great place to work at, so I decided to browse on the website and decided to apply for this job. I filled out the application and was invited to an assessment day with other individuals that had also applied for the job. I attended this assessment day which included an interview as well as an assessment and discussion with current staff members and I was offered the job just a few days after.

Q) Who’s your inspiration?

A) I think my inspiration is my mum as she always remains positive and makes others around her happy. I aspire to be like her as she always reaches for her goals and has a positive mindset at all times to ensure she reaches them.

Q) Where do you see yourself in the future?

A) In the future I see myself doing the marketing for a business or big company. This side of admin is what interests me the most as I enjoy doing things such as power points, adverts and posters. I have an interest in advertising for companies through social media and marketing their brand or products.

Q) What advice do you have for someone looking to enter the administration industry?

A) My advice would be to apply for an apprenticeship as I feel like it is a really good starting point to launch a administration career. This is because you don’t necessarily need any experience to be able to get an apprenticeship as you will learn as you work. In addition, you will come out the other side with great experience as well as a valuable qualification to help you further you career in the future.