Meet the Apprentices
Molly Grenfell - Office Support Apprentice
My Experience as
an Apprentice so far….
After searching for business administration apprenticeships across
Devon, seeing the vacancy on the Devon Jobs website (Check out the site for
yourself - https://www.devonjobs.gov.uk/)
caught my eye immediately as it’s everything I’ve wanted. University didn’t
appeal to me due to my motivation to work full time rather than study full time.
University would stunt my ability to work full time and gain on-the-job
experience, as well as the hefty student loan debt at the end of it. I strongly
think the apprenticeship route is a better way of kick starting a career. You
get into a routine immediately of working full time, learning on the job skills
and experience as well as working towards a qualification. An apprenticeship
allows the employer to shape the apprentice into the worker they need for their
department, whilst continuously benefiting the employer and employee due to the
learnt skills at work and the qualification outside of working conditions.
The Recruitment
Process
After completing a thorough online application, I was
invited to an assessment day alongside another 15 or so people, and we
completed an assessment booklet which took around 45 minutes. After this time
was up, our booklets were taken to be marked, while we waited we watched a
presentation about the type of vacancies that were available and in which
departments.
After this we found out if we had passed the assessment. Managers
of all the different departments were stood around different noticeboards of
information regarding their department and we were able to talk to the managers
about what their departments do and what part we would play if we were hired
into their department. It was a great way to ask all the questions we had and
to meet current apprentices and ask them questions about their experience.
After meeting the managers, it also made the interview process less daunting as
it wasn’t the first time I had met and spoke to the managers which made me less
anxious during the interview.
After a week of waiting for a telephone call I was invited
to an interview with my two most preferred departments, Customer Relations and
Customer Service.
I was extremely nervous the days leading up to my interview
and the day of my interview I was terrified, but by being interviewed by
familiar faces of the managers who I have met and spoke to before it made me a
lot calmer and the interview was more successful than it would have been because
of this. I was asked a series of questions by three interviewers who were all
friendly and lifted the situation from what would normally be stressful and
scary to a comfortable and exciting interview.
After the interview, I had a phone call and was overjoyed to
hear I was offered both of the roles to choose from! I decided to choose
Customer Relations and I had 4 weeks until I started.
My First Week
On the first week I shadowed my line manager while we set up
everything I would need while working in this particular department. I met the
whole team who were all really welcoming (they even brought me a birthday card
in the same week!), after a week of shadowing and understanding what will be
expected of me, I started to learn small parts of the job (e.g. Using the
printer, sending letters, filing etc.). My line manager wanted to take it all
slightly slowly in order not to overwhelm me with information which was really
helpful.
My Second Week
During the second week, I was shown how to carry out
slightly harder jobs. Whilst being shown the jobs I worked with my colleagues
to put together step by step guide on how to do certain jobs so that I could
refer back to them at a later time. And now on my third week I am into a
routine on jobs whilst having the ability to refer back to the process
documents, which is really helpful and enables me to work independently.
I have also attended an introductory lesson to my
qualification, where I was able to meet my assessors and the other apprentices
who are in the same position as me. I also now understand what units we will be
covering throughout the year, while doing my level 2 Business Administration
qualification, and all the resources which are put in place to support our
learning.
At the time I didn’t
realise just how great Devon Count Council would be as an employer. I heard during
the assessment day some of the employee benefits, but there are many I’m still
finding out each day. The large salary offered to the apprentices at Devon County
Council itself represents how they genuinely care for their staff here, the national
minimum salary rate for an apprentice being approximately £7104 annually! As an
apprentice you are treated no differently to all the other higher staff here
which is really pleasing, and everyone is always very welcoming. There is flexi
time offered to staff which allows people to carry out things in their personal
life and work it around their working hours easier, for example it makes it
easier to book appointments and have an appointment at 9am and then make up for
the hours another time. There’s sports clubs which practise during the lunch
hours and anyone is able join, there’s a shop and a cash machine and many more;
but I think the main benefit is how proud I feel working for DCC and the sense
of community inside the work place. Everyone is so lovely and enthusiastic to
help you and no question is ever a stupid question to anybody. I couldn’t
recommend working for DCC more and I know after my contract finishes with DCC
I’m going to try my best to stay working for Devon County Council.
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