Published: Monday, 4th March 2019
This week, 4 to 8 March 2019, sees the UK celebrating National Apprentice Week and Sevenoaks District Council are right behind it.
To celebrate the event, the Council has interviewed their current apprentices to find out a little bit more about their experience.
Apprenticeships may in the past have been for younger people, aged on average between 16 and 18, but these days, they are being promoted as a way of existing staff gaining further qualifications and in some cases as part of a strategy to upskill the existing workforce in order to ‘grow talent’ within the organisation.
Sevenoaks District Council currently have a number of apprentices. One of these, Vickie, Smith, 24, is an associate Project Manager Level 4 apprentice in the Communities and Business team. She has been doing this apprenticeship since January 2019 and has worked on projects like creating a video celebrating 100 years since women got the parliamentary vote and working alongside the Sevenoaks Area Dementia Friendly Community (SADFC) forum on the Run, walk or push against dementia event in Sevenoaks. Vickie says: “Everything so far has been really interesting and I have worked on so many different things. Creating the women’s video was great because I met some really inspiring ladies and working with SADFC is really important to me as my family are users of their services. It helps so many families across the District – not just the individuals with dementia.”
Vickie also added “My favourite thing has to be my team. I am surrounded by supportive and fantastic people and they make coming into work a joy. This apprenticeship will give me the skills I need to completely take the lead on projects and manage them on my own. I want to go into community development so I will be co-ordinating projects and events, this experience will be really useful.”
Other apprenticeships in Sevenoaks District Council include a positon in the housing team and a car fitter at the Council’s Dunbrik Depot.
Council Leader, Cllr Peter Fleming, adds: “There are new apprenticeship standards being developed by employers in a whole range of occupations. These range from leadership and management for team leaders and supervisors, through to a management degree. There are apprenticeships for digital industries, project management and even one specifically for the public sector.
“Apprenticeships usually require a day a week to study but many training providers offer this on-line and it may not be as much as a day a week depending on the apprenticeship level and on your previous qualification levels.”
For more information about becoming an apprentice visit www.apprenticeships.gov.uk
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