Life as an apprentice

Mollie is one of our more recent apprentices to pass through our programme and progress on to a full time role at the Council.

Find out about Mollie's experience as an apprentice below.

What apprenticeship did you complete/are you completing: 

I completed the Business Admin Level 2 apprenticeship working within the Revenues and Benefits team and the Customer Services team from 2018 - 2019.

I was also lucky enough to secure a full time job as a Customer Service Assistant whilst finishing my apprenticeship and am working towards my career progression at the Council.

Why did you apply for an apprenticeship at the Council?

I was interested initially as there were loads of opportunities to work across different departments within the Council. This has helped me learn and understand the important and varied work of the Council, which has since helped with my current work in the Customer Service team.

Apprenticeships are a great way to learn on the job whilst gaining knowledge, experience, qualifications and a a salary. The chance to get some extra qualifications and some real work experience was an important aspect for me and one of the reason I applied.

What did/do you enjoy most about your apprenticeship?

The thing I enjoyed most about my apprenticeship was working with the other apprentice’s and building good relationships with the people in my team.

I really benefitted from being able to work around people my own age as well as older and more experienced officers as I was able to input and share ideas and knowledge with my colleagues and make good friends with the other apprentices.

What element of the apprenticeship did/do you find most beneficial for your career development?

I was able to gain some really useful working knowledge and experience of all aspects of the Council during my apprenticeship. Part of the job involved working alongside the different departments of the Council, which gave me a real understanding of just how many things the Council looks after in the local area.

I found this was really useful to me personally as it has given me a good opportunity to help customers as best I can in my current full-time role within the Council.

The support from my managers and Career Track apprenticeship advisor was a massive help in making more confident and willing to challenge myself to learn new skills.

Do you think the Apprenticeship program directly impacted on your career opportunities?

Would you be where you are now if you hadn’t done an apprenticeship?  

I don’t think I would have ever thought about a career in local government if it hadn't been for the apprenticeship scheme. It really helped open up a lot of opportunities for me and ultimately led me to my current job which I absolutely love.

What one piece of advice would you give to an apprentice on programme now?

My one piece of advise to anyone looking at, or doing an apprenticeship would be to grasp every opportunity you can with both hands. The knowledge, skills and confidence you will gain will help you further your career whether that be at Maldon District Council or somewhere else.