National Apprenticeship Week 2023: Learning Skills for Life with SOCOTEC UK

After I completed my course at college, I decided to take a year out of studying to regroup after the pandemic, during this time I realised I still wanted to be in education but knew university wasn’t best suited to me or my learning style. Having more autonomy around my education and being able to go at my own pace is why I chose to do an apprenticeship.

Throughout my year out of studying I worked in a small farm shop, interacting with customers and helping others is something I fell in love with, this is when I realised I wanted to make a career out of what I enjoyed and started looking at job roles around HR and found Learning and Development (L&D). This department is perfect for me as it allows me to facilitate the growth of individuals watching them develop into their roles and careers and allows me to support apprentices as I have first-hand experience of what it is like to juggle a full-time job, an education and personal priorities.

My long-term career goal is not yet clear but I know I love the job I do at the moment. I now want to continue to grow my understanding of learning and development as well as HR and the business. I hope to progress onto another program after completing my level three apprenticeship to develop my soft skills, for example, management skills so I can become more well-rounded and continue my progression through L&D and HR.

SOCOTEC allows me to implement many of the modules and learning I complete throughout my program. I have been given the opportunity to implement t-level programs into SOCOTEC UK and currently have 15 students on placement and ten who have completed their placement. My new challenge is to take this nationally throughout the UK, in doing so building on my key knowledge skills and behaviours, for example, understanding L&D roles, managing participation and engagement as well as a willingness to explore and learn something new. As well as this, I support the delivery of the corporate induction, growing my communication skills, confidence in delivery and understanding of how different delivery channels support learning. These are vital skills required of an L&D practitioner and help supports my off-the-job hours.

Being able to build on the knowledge, I learn throughout my program through the knowledge of my colleagues. Continuing learning and constantly questioning allows me to have the best understanding of the things I learn throughout my program. As I have come into this role with no Learning and Development or HR experience I am learning everything for the first time and I love being able to fully grasp each concept and implement these into my day-to-day role.

Confidence in delivery and communication are two of the biggest skills I have learnt throughout my apprenticeship and my time at SOCOTEC. Whether it be through the new starter induction, communication with providers or presenting to the executive team at the annual apprentice conference there has been plenty of opportunities for me to get out of my comfort zone and seek and take on board feedback allowing me to identify areas for self-development.

I chose the Building Control Surveyor apprenticeship after being a labourer on a large estate. I spoke with civil engineers, quantity surveyors, carpenters, electricians and other tradesmen that I thought would be able to offer valuable advice and insight on the industry.

I spent a lot of time researching apprenticeships, as I knew I wanted to stay in education but didn’t think that enrolling in University would be the right fit for me. My apprenticeship at SOCOTEC has given me the opportunity to continue my studies but learn new skills in a workplace environment.

My long-term career goal is not clear, but I want to build on the skills that I have developed during my apprenticeship at SOCOTEC as a building control surveyor. I am not sure whether I want to stay in the building control industry once my programme has finished, but the skills that I have amassed during my apprenticeship will remain invaluable in any future role.

SOCOTEC gives me the opportunity to have a hands-on project management experience, with the support of mentors and peers that have years of industry experience. Working and learning in a supportive environment gives me the confidence to challenge and push myself.

My favourite thing about my programme is the support from the other Building Control apprentices. We each have different strengths in our knowledge meaning we can support and guide each other.

Time management is a major aspect of the role and has been important in helping me maintain a good work-life balance. This is a skill that I will not only need to carry into my next role, but throughout my entire career.

I was actively searching for a new career, and I saw SOCOTEC advertising the Lab Analyst apprenticeship. I researched SOCOTEC, and I learnt how vast their departments are. This made me aware that a career at SOCOTEC is worth undertaking, therefore I decided to apply for the role and shortly after joined the team.

I want to complete my apprenticeship with SOCOTEC, then have the opportunity to improve personal qualities. I want to move into surveying and to achieve all the qualifications needed to be an expert in this field of work.

There is a lot to learn for the coursework side of my apprenticeship, which is crucial to an individual working in majority of laboratories. The course will help each individual achieve all that’s needed to complete work within a laboratory, but within the Asbestos laboratory, you must learn about asbestos, which the course doesn’t include in detail, therefore this is something which I have been learning from my colleagues here at SOCOTEC.

My favourite thing about the programme is the variety of knowledge to learn. The opportunity to learn a variety in general is exciting. The course has a lot of guidance available which for me is an important aspect, that encourages me within the course.

The most important skill I have learnt whilst being involved within this course, has to be all the ways to increase self-improvement. Ideas like Lean thinking, Kaizen model, Six Sigma and DMAIC, are all important strategies to improve myself within the working environment.  

I was interested in IT at sixth form and I also enjoyed problem solving in maths, I thought I would be best suited to a career within IT because I could combine these interests in my day-to-day role. I decided to do an apprenticeship because I could learn and gain work experience at the same time, which I thought would be the best way to learn and gain the skills I need for a career in IT.

My career goal is to become an IT infrastructure engineer. My current programme has covered networking concepts which an IT infrastructure engineer needs to know when they are supporting and maintaining network infrastructure.

My role has enabled me to gain exposure to different areas of IT ranging from support tasks to maintenance tasks. Due to this I have been able to gain knowledge and experience required to complete these tasks.

My favourite thing about the programme are the courses that are provided by the apprenticeship training provider because they teach a variety of topics within IT. The courses then supply practical activities to complete so that you can apply the knowledge you have just learnt.

The main skills that I have learnt is how to manage and prioritise my workload, this has been useful as it has made me able to be more efficient and complete tasks before any given deadline.