Reflections on the City College Apprenticeship programme

City College asked Scott, an Apprentice who is employed at the University of Brighton, and Lisa, his line manager to reflect on their experience of the Apprenticeship programme so far:

Scott – Apprentice at the University of Brighton: 

"Before my Apprenticeship I was a student at Bhasvic, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but liked the idea of an Apprenticeship, as I wanted to continue studying while gaining experience in a workplace.

I decided to apply for the Apprenticeship with the University of Brighton because their requirements were for an applicant with A-levels and I wanted to feel that my time spent at college was worthwhile. The University is a big employer so I was excited to get the chance to work with them.

The recruitment process was very straight forward. I found the Apprenticeship advertised on the National Apprenticeship website, I applied for the role and was invited to City College to learn more about the Apprenticeship. At the workshop I completed a questionnaire about myself and questions relating to the job role. A week or so later, I found out I was lucky enough to get an interview for the role.

If I was unsuccessful at the interview, I feel City College would have been supportive in helping me find another job. I was made aware of the workshops I could attend to help find another role. 

I’m gaining a lot of experience working for the University, already in my job role I’ve had the opportunity to work in different teams, learning new things and discovering the many different business sectors a university works in.

I’ve found working with my Assessor really easy, if I ever need help or have a question related to the work, I know I can ask my Assessor and get an answer quickly. Within a few months of my Apprenticeship I have already achieved a lot of the criteria for the qualification. When a piece of work is completed, I send the document to my Assessor and get feedback within a few days.

The University has been great and they are really supporting my development. We’re already thinking about what I can do next. In the future I might even have the opportunity to study at the University part-time while working."

Lisa – Scott’s Line Manager:

"The recruitment process itself was straight forward. As this was the first Apprenticeship role at the University, we were very clear on the type of Apprentice we needed, and we had to wait a while to get the right person. City College were very supportive of this and worked with us to achieve our goal. We ended up with a very strong short list. I would recommend that you allow City College to provide the short list, as it saves employer time, but more importantly, it gives the Apprentice a level of support which they wouldn’t readily receive. 

One of the benefits of employing Scott as an Apprentice so far has been his IT skills; having come from an IT course, Scott has been able to quickly put his skills to use and has helped me on many occasions. Scott has had a big impact on others in the department. Staff are very supportive of him and the scheme overall. Having fresh ideas and a different perspective on things is very helpful. Scott has already suggested an alternative way of engaging with some external stakeholders, which we are currently reviewing. If adopted, this will save considerable time on a particular task.

We would undoubtedly take on another Apprentice, I hope that throughout the next year, we will be able to employ many more."

For more informaion on the Apprentice scheme, contact Claire Reed on 01273 667788 or cc2@ccb.ac.uk

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk