Joel, a 19 year old from Longnor, is a current Level 3 Business Administration apprentice. Here he tells us about why he chose to do an apprenticeship in our latest Student Blog:
I decided to do an apprenticeship because I wanted to develop my skills after leaving school. I’m based within a business full time where I get lots of on-the-job training from my employer, along with training at Buxton & Leek College each week to help me get my qualifications.
Day to day my responsibilities at work include administration, filing, copying, managing data, taking calls, providing a high level of customer service and working on reception. I chose to study Business Administration because there are so many different career paths and opportunities that you can take. I’m still young so it’s great that there’s a lot of options ahead of me!
I’ve worked in lots of different departments and teams during my apprenticeship, which has given me the opportunity to pick up skills and meet lots of different people. This has also meant that I’ve learned a huge amount during my apprenticeship, especially because of the on-the-job training.
I get assessed by College in my workplace – which my employer is really supportive of – to make sure that I meet certain goals and tasks to achieve my qualification at the end. This is all done by demonstrating how this fits in with my role at work, so even the assessments are really hands-on. I think this is really good because it means that I’m actually doing things and can show any future employer exactly how I would do these things in another role.
My favourite thing about my apprenticeship has been all of the people that I’ve met along the way, I’ve met some really great people in my workplace who I can learn from as they all have so much experience to offer.
I’d definitely recommend an apprenticeship to anyone who feels like they’re ready to go out and get a job after they leave school – one of the great things about an apprenticeship is that you get paid whilst you’re training. You also get paid holidays too, which can make all the difference.
I can definitely see myself progressing in a career in Business Administration. Because I’ve had the opportunity to do such a wide variety of things, it’s really helping me to focus on my strengths, what I enjoy doing the most in my role at the moment and how I want to develop. The qualifications I will have, and the experience I’ve gained will be really useful in my future career.
