DALROD have witnessed huge success by using apprenticeships within the business. Former apprentice Emily Woods is now the Marketing and Communications Co-Ordinator, and they are now seeing the same promise with Lewis Pereira who is in the early days of his Business Administration Apprenticeship. Read here their inspirational stories…
Emily Woods
Emily began her apprenticeship in July 2017, studying an advance level apprenticeship in social media, a level three diploma in social media and a level three diploma in digital marketing and communications. Her role with DALROD was alongside her studies and media duties with the Peterborough Phantoms Ice Hockey Club due to the owners of DALROD UK also being the title sponsors and owners of the club.
None of the course Emily studied for was classroom based, meaning her attentions could be more focussed on learning on the job. A tutor came into the office every three months to check Emily’s progress and assist her with any aspects of the course which she had any problems with. The course was all online, which allowed Emily to improve her skills, on the job. She also put in the hours of practice and study at home to further her skills as much as she could.
Emily said: “Apprenticeships are a really good way to get into the world of work. It was a better route than university for me, because I could go into a job and start earning money with the possibility of progressing through the business also in the equation.”
“I think it is important to learn while you’re on the job, it helps to see what you learn in a real-life scenario or learn something and then put what you’ve learnt into practice. I taught myself how to use various software programmes by playing around with it and learning what everything does; it was better for me than sitting in a classroom as it kept my attention.” She continued.
Now, 15 months after the conclusion of her apprenticeship, she was offered a permanent position within the DALROD organisation as Marketing and Communications Co-Ordinator Predominantly within the Phantoms, the ice hockey side of the business.
She knows her apprenticeship was the key to achieving what she has achieved in her career to date.
“With the job I do now it has helped a lot. I had to learn
completely different and new skills. This included time management and other
valuable skills in myself, as well as academically, which has been really
useful in general life as well as work. It gave me a base of knowledge; a lot
of my job now is on social media and I covered a lot of that in my
apprenticeship. It helped me learn the foundations of what it takes to do the
job I do and the things I learnt now come naturally, because I just know they’re
the right way of doing things.”
Lewis Pereira
Lewis Pereira is currently studying a level three business administration apprenticeship, whilst also working for DALROD UK. He began his apprenticeship in August 2019 and his course is ongoing. In Lewis’ apprenticeship, he is given criteria which he has to meet and give evidence of it in a portfolio. His work is assessed by assessors and he gets observed at his desk on a monthly basis.
There are different types of criteria to meet and he has to match the criteria to what he does day to day. In addition, he has to learn about other aspects of the subject, such as invoicing. It isn’t part of his current job role but it’s a good skill to have as he looks to progress in the future.
Lewis had just finished his A Levels when DALROD advertised for an apprentice. He didn’t want to go to university and felt as though an apprenticeship, alongside working, was a good choice to ensure he was still learning. Leaping straight from school to a job was too big of a jump for Lewis at the time his apprenticeship is a good steppingstone into the world of full-time work.
Lewis said: “I hope the apprenticeship will help me progress in the business with the learning of key skills. Organisation, planning and life skills like time management have also been picked up which can be applied in day to day life as well as in work.”
Lewis was keen to acknowledge the benefits of his apprenticeship with DALROD: “It is a good thing to be able to have on my CV. Without the apprenticeship, it’d be harder to get the job I’d like to do in the future so it’s a really good way of improving skills in the workplace.”
Apprenticeships are the perfect steppingstone between school and full time work. For those who do not wish to go to university, but want to continue learning, apprenticeships allow for this to happen, whilst the experience of working full time is also gained.
