It's National Apprenticeship Week
As it’s National Apprenticeship Week 2016 (14 – 18 March), we thought it was only right that our digital marketing apprentice, Ben Leach, takes over the blog. Read his take on apprenticeships and his experience (so far) as an apprentice….
‘As my first month at In the Works PR draws to a close it gives me a chance to reflect on how things have gone so far.
As an apprentice, I have heard the horror stories about being resident tea-boy for the next 15 months, or doing nothing but filing for an eternity. Frankly, any other job that the employees didn’t want to. But this isn’t the case at all, not here!
As National Apprenticeship Week is upon us, it has given me an opportunity to ponder, and it really made me question why there is so much negativity for apprenticeships in the back of people’s mind.
One of my first jobs when I started at In the Works PR was to interview apprentices employed by our clients, to gather stories about their experience working for their employers. Without fail, like me, I found they’d all been positively influenced by an apprenticeship.
Every day I walk into a welcoming office, knowing that I am a valued member of the team. From the get-go I have had real work that has already broadened my skillset in the industry I have chosen to enter. Forget A-level English, Anna and Emma have given me a whole different insight on how to write to entice and inform a reader. I have been writing press releases, brochure content and monitoring and presenting media coverage every day. I really feel I’m contributing to the business’ success.
I know that many people are uneasy about joining an apprenticeship scheme and choose not to do it. A lot of the time, schools use scare tactics to convince their pupils to stay on at sixth form and go to university, using outdated statistics about pay and employment. There are a lot of falsified claims about the negative effects of apprenticeships, which I feel are purely to increase their retention rate of students.
I originally went to college to do A-levels but soon decided that a working environment would be suited to me. I felt that getting actual work experience would be much more valuable than sitting in a classroom for another four to six years! I actually wanted to make a difference and progress vocationally.
I have never made a better decision in my life. I know that doing an apprenticeship here will give me experience, and skills that I couldn’t get anywhere else.’
If you’re interested in an apprenticeship at In the Works PR, send your CV and a covering letter to info@intheworkspr.co.uk
