Meet the Apprentices
Arby - Trainee Internal Audit Practitioner
I began my Career at Devon County Council (DCC) in February 2019 as a Level 2 Business Administration Apprentice. After passing my Level 2, I progressed straight onto my Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship, which I achieved with a Distinction in April 2021. The knowledge, experience and skills obtained during my apprenticeships allowed me to secure a permanent role as a Customer Support Officer in DCC.
After completing my Level 3, I was looking for new opportunities available to develop my skill set further and found Devon Audit Partnership were advertising three Apprenticeships for a Level 4 Data Analyst, a Level 4 Internal Audit Practitioner, and a Level 4 Cyber Security Technologist (focusing on Risk Analysis). IT has always been an area of interest for me, so I applied via Devon Jobs. I was fortunate enough to secure an interview, where I was successful and offered the Level 4 Cyber Security Apprenticeship. The interview was a single stage interview with senior members of Devon Audit Partnership, which lasted for around an hour and was held remotely on Microsoft Teams. My End Point Assessment for my Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship was also held remotely, which gave me confidence on how to present myself during an interview.
I started working in Devon Audit Partnership (DAP) in November 2021, and straight away I was able to be involved in Internal Audit work whilst being supported by different auditors. Internal Audit’s role is to provide independent assurance that an organisation’s risk management, governance, and internal control processes are operating effectively. Currently, I am involved in supporting many different audits to develop my own Internal Audit skills, but due to my specialisation in Cyber Security, I am starting to review the ICT work programmes, making sure that they incorporate specific frameworks, whilst developing new IT self-assessment documents that will be used within DAP moving forward.
My apprenticeship is being delivered by The Learning Curve Group who deliver training nationally. My apprenticeship is broken down into Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours (KSB) criteria that I have to evidence prior to my End Point Assessment (EPA) in a portfolio. To gain the knowledge required, I attend weekly webinars and I have set work from my Tutor Assessor, whilst having resources (online and physical) that I use for self-study. Online resources available to me include computer labs via a Virtual Machine, where we can actively apply knowledge learnt; for example, when learning about Cryptography and Encryption, I had access to a computer lab which included all the software available to be able to test how Encryption and Decryption works.
My apprenticeship time is classed as “Off-the-job(OTJ) hours”, which needs to equate to 20% of all of my contractual time. OTJ hours include theory sessions (webinars, online learning, simulation exercises etc), practical training within the work place (job shadowing, mentoring, industry visits etc), and time spent writing assignments.
In the first few months of my apprenticeship, I have learnt about Governance and Cryptography within Cybersecurity, including frameworks, legislation and policies which need to be thought about within an organisation, alongside different encryption standards. This knowledge so far has allowed me to add value to our clients by allowing me to further explain certain risks and mitigations. In the future of my apprenticeship, I’ll be learning specifically about the theory on Network and Digital communication and IT risk management, which both can be applied directly into my Internal Audit role.
My previous apprenticeships with DCC have allowed me to build and develop my knowledge and business skills, whilst my current Apprenticeship is allowing me to focus these skills on a certain area of interest for me. Everything learnt during this apprenticeship will be valuable to DAP and DCC, and will help develop their IT offering in the future.
Arby
Trainee Internal Audit Practitioner
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