National Apprenticeship Week: Hannah’s Story
This week (Monday 8th to Sunday 14th February) marks National Apprenticeship week in England – a time to celebrate the hard work of apprentices around the country.
To mark the occasion, our Resource Administration Apprentice, Hannah Halford, shares insight into why she chose an apprenticeship as her route into the tech industry and how she’s finding her experience with Tisski so far.
The beginning of my journey
I always knew university wasn’t for me after I left school. I’ve always been a ‘hands on’ learner and found that I enjoyed working and being independent – but one thing I struggled with was finding a single area of focus on. I couldn’t settle on just one career path, so in the end I almost let the career path choose me.
After being made redundant last March, I was keen to enhance my skills and further my education, so I started looking for online classes and courses I could take part in. In my search, I came across the Heart of England Training website and noticed they were offering a Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship.
I’ve always loved admin work and was interested in progressing in this area, so I applied via the government website. I completed the application form - which was a simple and straight forward process – and was invited for an interview. No more than 24 hours later, I was a Resource Administrator Apprentice for Tisski!
My day-to-day role
My apprenticeship is 18 months long and I have to spend 20 per cent of my time in ‘off-the-job training’. This means that I spend a certain amount of time during my working day focusing on my apprenticeship studies, whether it’s completing assessment papers or attending virtual classroom sessions.
In the world of resourcing, no two days are the same and it really sits at the heart of the business at Tisski. As a team, it’s our responsibility to ensure that we have the correct resources assigned to projects. I see resourcing a little like puzzle-solving in terms of how we’re going to make each project work. Some days, it’s challenging due to how busy we are, but we always make it work.
My managers are a great support in making sure I get the time I need away from my day-to-day work to focus on the more theoretical side of things. Working at Tisski, I can honestly say that I never wake up in the morning and think: ‘I don’t want to go to work today’. Our team are like family and I could never imagine working anywhere else.
Once I’ve completed my apprenticeship, I’m hoping to keep expanding my knowledge of the organisation and work my way up the career ladder.
The best decision for me
Enrolling onto an apprenticeship has boosted my confidence both personally and within work. I’m getting an in-depth look into how businesses work and gaining valuable, first-hand experience in a full-time job with responsibilities – things I believe are vital to early career success.
Being 26, I had experienced the working world before my apprenticeship, but I never got to grips with how a business actually runs. Thanks to Tisski and the apprenticeship scheme, I’m gaining that understanding and becoming more knowledgeable each day; everything I’m learning in my apprenticeship is helping me do my job and everything I learn at work, can be applied back to my studies.
If anyone out there is considering an apprenticeship, my advice would be simple: do it. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain. It will give you that real-world experience and a qualification and together, these can really help boost your career.
Choosing this path has definitely been the best decision I’ve made, and the apprenticeship has been the most amazing experience so far. I’m excited to see what’s to come.
