National Apprenticeship Week 2022: Building Your Future with SOCOTEC UK

I decided to complete an apprenticeship as I wanted to kick-start my long-term career, but I knew that university was not the route I wanted to take in order to get there. An apprenticeship suited my lifestyle perfectly as I could work at the same time as gaining a qualification, building on my future career.

No two days are the same as an apprentice PR and communications assistant. There are any number of tasks I could be undertaking as part of my role, including writing, editing and proofreading copy, distributing content to our media list, monitoring PR coverage and uploading announcements to our employee Intranet, to name a few.

My apprenticeship is based on my job role, so I have been applying the knowledge and skills that I have acquired as part of my learning towards my day-to-day job. I have found that the more I have been learning about PR and Communications within my apprenticeship, the more I have been able to understand and apply this knowledge to different aspects of my work.

My apprenticeship is setting me up to achieve my long-term career goals, as I am learning about various aspects of the working environment. I am studying one module per month, which is helping to learn about the wider aspects of PR and communications, as well as the various ways that it could benefit the business. I also have an incredibly supportive team around me here at SOCOTEC, enabling me to broaden my knowledge across all aspects of marketing.

For anyone wondering whether an apprenticeship at SOCOTEC is right for them, I’d say just go for it. I’m certain you won’t regret it – even if like me, you are older than the average age of an apprentice, I would say don’t let that fear hold you back. I am so happy I decided to ignore that voice and take the first steps towards my future career.

My day-to-day responsibilities include responding to client phone calls/emails, inspecting building work at various stages, ensuring appropriate safety when on site, checking drawings and undertaking plan checks.

My time management and communication skills are being applied every day. Being able to handle all the tasks I am given – as well as being responsive to calls and up-to-date with emails – is incredibly important within my role, and my apprenticeship is supplying me with the knowledge and expertise relevant to the building control industry.

I am gaining on-the-job experience within my role, as well as undertaking my degree studies to achieve my qualification. These two combined will put me in a great position for when I finish studying and shift my focus to working full time.

The advice that I would give anyone considering an apprenticeship with SOCOTEC is to enjoy what you do. Working towards an apprenticeship is a major commitment, so it’s important that you find something that you are passionate about and makes you look forward to coming to work each day.

One of my main day-to-day responsibilities as an infrastructure apprentice is testing samples such as soils, concrete and aggregates, as well as filling in the paperwork so that a report can created from my results, ready to be sent to clients.

The knowledge and skills that I have acquired during my apprenticeship have been extremely useful, with many of them transferable to everyday tasks. For instance, my job requires me to interact with a variety of people on a daily basis, from laboratory technicians to senior management. As well as enhancing my communication skills, I have also become more experienced at teamworking by working closely with my colleagues to achieve a series of common goals.

Long-term career goals have never been a definite for me as my interests fluctuate, but this is something that my apprenticeship accommodates for extremely well. So far, I have learnt a variety of skills such as project planning, presenting to groups of people and holding fundraisers. There are many avenues that I could branch into after my apprenticeship, and it is providing me with the foundation of my career that I can continue to build on as I gain more knowledge and experience.

To anyone considering an apprenticeship at SOCOTEC, I would say go for it. Although it can be quite nerve-racking being introduced to a new style of learning and potentially a completely new field, it could be the best thing you ever do. SOCOTEC invests and cares about its apprentices’ personal and professional development, which makes it the perfect stepping stone into a long and successful career.

When samples are delivered to us, I split them and put them in the oven to dry, sieving samples to separate the >10mm (large pieces) from the <10mm (smaller pieces), weighing samples and sub samples and cleaning them down. I’m also responsible for calibrating scales and checking oven temperatures.

Although it’s very early days, my colleagues have been showing me some asbestos samples and what they look like under the microscope, enabling me to get to grips with the material I am handling. At the moment, the skills I use the most are the splitting and sieving – the more I sieve, the more the analysts can analyse (and results can be processed quicker too).

In all honesty, I am still figuring out what I want to do in terms of my long-term career, as this is the first time I have had a career over a ‘job’. All I know is that SOCOTEC is definitely the right place for me and now is the right time to start working towards my long-term career goals.

I would definitely recommend an apprenticeship at SOCOTEC. They are a great way to earn while you learn and work towards a career, and SOCOTEC has been the perfect stepping stone for me to get where I want to be. I’ve already made some great friends in the short time I have been here and I have felt supported by everyone.

Although I am academically minded, I still prefer to learn by doing. It was this, coupled with being paid while learning, that led to my decision to pursue an apprenticeship. Not everyone can go to uni, and until I saw this role advertised, it wasn’t anything I had thought of before. Usually this type of role requires university education in the science sector and that’s not something I was keen on doing. An apprenticeship was perfect as I was training and working towards a career I am passionate about.

My daily routine involves me coming to work at 07:30 and removing moulds of the concrete cores arriving in the front (concrete) lab. I will mark these cubes with a unique code which will determine which controlled tank it will be stored in until it is ready to test. Depending on the day, I will then be assigned to either the soils or blacktop laboratory to do my daily duties. For example, the soils laboratory usually requires a particle size distribution test (grading) or MCV test. Conversely, in the middle (blacktop) laboratory, I will usually be assigned to measure either screed prisms, concrete cores or bricks, all of which involve the same basic treatment.

If there is anything to be gained from my apprenticeship that has helped me build my character in my day-to-day job, it would easily be the comradery that I have with my fellow apprentices. Helping each other when we are confused or nervous to approach a new task has been vital in enabling us to grow as a team and remain on target to achieve our end goal.

SOCOTEC has also done a fantastic job of providing opportunities for apprentices from different sites to network with one another at the Forums and Conferences. These are fantastic for building skills such as confidence, communication, independence and teamwork, all of which are vital to excel in any working environment.

My personal long-term goal involves me moving into either a manager position or moving abroad to work with science. SOCOTEC allows its employees to work abroad, as well as providing countless opportunities to grow both professionally and personally.  

By applying for an apprenticeship at SOCOTEC, you’ll find yourself in a positive working environment that can get you where you want to go. Apprenticeships provide on-the-job experience, less debt and less stress for the same outcome, in addition to guaranteed employment and a head start into adulthood. Personally, the apprenticeship lifestyle suits me more – I’m happy with the choice I made and am excited to see more apprentices join the business over the coming year.