National Apprenticeship Week
Nicola Bellamy , Technical Services Manager Kersia UK, talks about her Apprenticeship and the benefits it’s brought to her professional life.
This year’s National Apprenticeship Week focused on ‘Skills For Life’, a mantra that’s close to our hearts here at Kersia UK. We fully support the week that brings together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy. Ensuring the work force of today and tomorrow have the right skills and knowledge to be able to carry out their job to their best of their ability helps us shape our programme of external training courses for the year.
As the organisation responsible for apprenticeships states:?High quality apprenticeships are essential to business growth and to help our economy to prosper in the years to come. We are putting employers in the driving seat so they have the power to develop apprenticeships that meet the skills they need now and in the future.
I was lucky enough to recently complete an MBA via the apprenticeship route with the support of Kersia UK and can honestly say it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life so far. I have always dreamt of doing an MBA to allow me to gain a deeper insight into how organisations function on every level and how to become a strategic transformational leader in business.
When I realised this was possible via the apprenticeship route and that the government backed apprenticeship levy initiative offered corporate funding for a Level 7 Senior Leader which included completion of an EXEC MBA, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to achieve my goal. I had such a positive experience that I have also just enrolled as an apprentice ambassador for the Yorkshire and Humber region as I truly believe that apprenticeships are essential for any business.?In these times where recruitment, retention, engagement and motivation in the workplace are challenging, businesses need to recognise the systemic positive impacts that apprenticeships can bring to their organisations.?Either recruiting via the apprenticeship route or recognising a strategic succession plan within the current workforce, embracing apprenticeships as standard practice is definitely something that I would advocate.
I approached the Kersia UK team to ask them to support me on the course and they immediately agreed.?One of the main benefits of the MBA I completed was the fact that the MBA segment took two years from the start of the course to submission of the final dissertation.?The Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship segment took two years nine months to complete from commencement of work-based projects through to the End Point Assessment and Professional Discussion (started November 2019 – completed August 2022).
The subjects I studied included:
·??????Organisational Change
·??????Strategic Management
·??????Human Resource Management
·??????Operations and Supply Chain Management
·??????International Business
·??????Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship
·??????Leadership
·??????Finance and Accountancy
·??????Systemic Management and Complexity
·??????Economic Environment
·??????Marketing
·??????Consultancy Management
·??????Research Methods and Application?
My dissertation?subject was The Barriers for Women’s Career Progression in SMEs within the UK STEM Sector - A Case Study of Holchem Laboratories?
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When embarking on apprenticeships, an organisation is committed to supporting a student with 20% of the job focus on learning and project work with a blend of classroom and virtual learning for three consecutive days every six weeks.?Here at Kersia I managed the apprenticeship project work around my ongoing work commitments and many of my projects were focussed on Kersia innovation initiatives so, although contributing to my apprentice portfolio, were concurrently benefitting the business. The hybrid working during the 2020/2021 pandemic enabled me to navigate the study / work balance more readily.??
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The MBA was organised via Hull University who were very supportive and each module leader provided guidance and assistance where required.?I was also assigned an apprenticeship mentor who guided me through the process with regular meetings to ensure I was on track with my learning outcomes and required knowledge skills and behaviours targets.?
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Kersia were amazing throughout my study period.?I was allowed sufficient time to enable me to fully embrace the experience and to ensure I had enough time to complete my module assignments and project work.?The team also assigned me topic relevant tasks that were outside of my standard roles and responsibilities to allow me to expand my knowledge of the business. I couldn’t have asked for more from my line managers. They were so supportive and understanding, especially around deadlines and workload levels.?
It’s important to have the ‘buy in’ of colleagues and I was lucky that the team here were also supportive and offered help where required with my workload; I am part of a great team!
Colleagues from other areas of the business were also more than willing to help me with information required in order to complete assignments outside of my comfort zone including:
·??????Finance and accounting.
·??????Information to help me introduce a central training recording system.
·??????Marketing strategy for training and apprenticeships.
·??????Change management strategy during 2020 – launch of virtual communications to connect with customers during lockdown.
·??????Internal marketing of the Ashoka programme.
·??????Inspiring others to embark on environmentally and socially impactful projects eg. recruitment onto the internal Committed and Different programme.
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For anyone thinking about embarking on an apprenticeship I would say that
I am so much more confident as an individual after having completed this qualification.?I have a more rounded view of business and Kersia as an organisation and can better understand decision making and strategy.??I feel like I have vastly improved my professional knowledge and have invested much of my time as a team player. My mission going forward is to elevate others and help and mentor younger / newer team members to achieve their goals. As part of my role as an ambassador, I aim to raise awareness within our business and the marketplace regarding the array of opportunities available for personal development and potential career progression.
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Undertaking an apprenticeship is no mean feat and there is a lot of hard work required as well and time commitment, BUT, if any of my colleagues approach me and ask my advice, I will definitely recommend the apprenticeship route as the best option for progression as you are able to work and live the practicalities of a role while concurrently learning the theory to enhance and better understand whatever role or marketplace in which you operate.?
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