Business Administration, Level 3
What has your journey been like?
I did a gap year and then Covid happened. I decided that I wanted to do an apprenticeship while my friends were going to University as I wanted to gain experience in the work place environment and start earning money.
I did an A level in Business Studies which I really enjoyed. I looked into the Business admin apprenticeship which included elements of Project Management which I wanted to learn more about and get an insight in this area.
I joined Bristol City Council in March 2022 with the Contracts and Commissioning team in Homelessness. I didn't have a lot of knowledge in Contracts and Commissioning but I was happy to apply the knowledge I gained in the college lessons. We had to show evidence of our learning for example in IT, and business fundamentals which is invoices, budgets, and taking minutes. It helped to build up my skills and knowledge ready for the exams. We used a time log to show our Off The Job time. This went towards our end point assessment and building our portfolio. I completed my apprenticeship programme quicker than expected. In May, I was nominated by my current and previous line manager to enter the Local Government apprentice of the Year competition 2023. The theme was climate change and we had to devise a net zero plan for a fictitious Council in teams and draw up a communication strategy. We were assessed as a team, but also individually. This was sent to my line manager and going forward, we will think about further areas of my personal development.
What challenges have you faced during your apprenticeship?
As part of my apprenticeship, I carried out a project: To improve the referrals of homeless families into city wide floating support services. I had to start this completely fresh from month 9 of my apprenticeship, even though I was already involved in a project. However, I knew there was a gap in the referrals to the City-wide floating support service after attending meetings around this issue. I produced a spreadsheet of families of those who hadn't been referred and sent this this to the Homeless Prevention team to ask them to refer the families with support needs for floating support. I monitored this every week, to see if the referrals had been increased. We had to give a presentation on this project as part of the end point assessment. It was intense as there wasn't much guidance on how to decide what project to do but my line manager checked in with me each week to discuss my updates on the project. The team helped me along the way when I had any questions on floating support services.
What life skills is your apprenticeship teaching you?
In the beginning I had a lack of confidence in my role as I didn't know an awful lot about Contracts and Commissioning, but I was determined to build on this and get involved in as many projects in the team to help with this. I was able to relate the work I had learnt in the college lessons within my role on the team for example in team meetings I would hear them talking about going out to tender which I didn't understand initially. But I learnt more about it at college as part of the business fundamentals topic. I now have more confidence in the workplace environment and in the Contracts and Commissioning team which has helped me be more involved in recommissioning services and learning more about procurement. This will help me with my career development.
What are your plans once you have completed?
I have recently been offered a job as a project co-ordinator within the Right to Buy team which is part of the Home Ownership team. This role will help me widen my knowledge in Housing and help me further develop my skills to progress in my career.
Would you recommend an apprenticeship?
I would definitely recommend an apprenticeship as it is a great way to learn new things whilst gaining a qualification. I will definitely look at the opportunities to do an apprenticeship alongside a role within the council if it relates.
