As it's National Apprenticeship Week, we wanted to catch up with two of our apprentices in the business, Ellie and Katie.
Ellie is one of our Internal Recruiters and Katie works in our Training team as a Training Coordinator.
Hey Ellie, Hi Katie! Thank you for being here today to chat to us about your apprenticeships. Firstly, could you tell us what your apprenticeships are in?
Ellie: Mine was the Level 3 Customer Service (I passed last year!)
Katie: And mine is Level 3 Business Administration.
Amazing! So, what does a week look like when completing an apprenticeship?
Ellie: So I would have two 'normal days' where I would do my job, which is Internal Recruitment, on a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon I would revise and study, and on a Friday it was an admin day.
Katie: I work 4 and a half days a week and have a half day where I will do my Apprenticeship work!
Ellie, you've recently completed your Apprenticeship here, what has learning while you earn felt like?
Ellie: My week felt a lot busier than if I were to have just been working or just studying, but I felt like I'd learned a lot more because I was doing the job too.
How about you, Katie?
Katie: It's been a good way to get into something without any experience.
Why did you choose to do an Apprenticeship?
Ellie: I liked the idea of getting a qualification whilst doing my job.
Katie: My friend recommended it to me! I had already done two years at college before so I wasn't sure at first but I'm so glad I did it now because I've learned so much.
What advice would you give to someone looking to do an Apprenticeship?
Ellie: Make sure you make time to study and make notes, because you learn so much over the course that by the time you get to the end you won't be able to remember it all otherwise! Find something you are really interested in, it's a long course and you don't want to get bored. Don't put yourself down, it will all be worth it!
Katie: Definitely do it! Choose an Apprenticeship that is quite broad, so you open yourself up to lots of opportunities. Don't let the thought of 'I've already been to college' hold you back, because I think it's definitely worth it...I've learned so much!
What's next for you?
Ellie: There's another level of Apprenticeship I could do, but at the moment I'm quite happy with how it's gone and my achievements so I'm just getting to know my job a bit better and seeing where it goes!
Katie: I should be finished in April/May and then I'd like to see what my main interests in the business are.
Keep up to date with Katie and Ellie's journey and all things Optamor, by following our LinkedIn and Instagram pages!
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