Apprenticeships

Employer: Lincoln College, University of Oxford

I recommend the land-based courses that the College run to friends all the time. It’s a phenomenal place to learn, especially the attentive way the courses are taught to apprentices. The support from staff is fantastic too. I owe a lot to my tutor in particular.

I personally believe that being a gardener is not just a job, it’s much more. It’s a state of mind. You have to have a passion to make it work.

Gardening is a continuous cycle of hard work, knowledge, and growth. Each season is different and every season has a purpose. You really are working with the grain of nature and this roots you as an individual in a way no other profession does.

Olamalu are a friendly team of web technology experts based in West Oxfordshire.

"Our apprentices are an integral part of our development team. They help to support our customers by fixing bugs, implementing new web functionality and keep our portfolio of websites up and running, applying security updates and testing functionality.

As they get more experienced, they also build new websites for customers using a range of web development technologies.

We have hired some wonderful apprentices, who have brought great enthusiasm and perspective to the team. We continue to look to apprentices as a source of talent."

Employer: Nielsen

I had a place at university for a full-time course, but I wasn't completely set on what career path I wanted, so I decided the best thing to do would be to get experience.

At college and Oxford Brookes University, it's nice to meet students from other companies; it gives a good insight into other businesses and is interesting to have debates and understand their opinion on different subjects. The lecturers are enthusiastic and willing to help, and it's easier to gain the support in a smaller lecture environment.

I love that my degree is funded, I'm gaining experience that I wouldn't get from university, and it's exciting to know that I'm guaranteed a relevant job at the end of my apprenticeship.

Employer: Nielsen

Doing an apprenticeship has allowed me to get experience at the same time as studying a full-time degree, and gave me the opportunity to decide what career path I wanted to go down.

I think that working in a full-time role and doing an apprenticeship is never easy. Time management, at first, was my biggest challenge. Ensuring that I was spending enough time on work, studies and myself was hard, but this definitely got easier as I worked out how to manage my time. I am able to use what I learn in the classroom to my day to day work, which is really useful, also allowing me to bring new ideas to the team.

Doing a degree as well as an apprenticeship was the best decision I made.

We work with Oxfordshire County Council to provide apprenticeship opportunities in a variety of industries to match the many career routes they offer:

"Each of our apprentice roles are different. Business Admin apprentices handle enquiries from a wide range of people from both inside and outside the Council; Supported Teaching and Learning apprentices supervise and provide support for pupils; and Children and Young People apprentices contribute to the planning for children to celebrate and extend their interests, well-being and learning.

Apprenticeships offer both new and existing staff high-quality training, enabling colleagues to gain professional qualifications while learning on-the-job. It’s also an opportunity for us to develop our workforce and provide employment and training for individuals in the wider community."

Nielsen are an industry-leading global measurement and data analytics company that has operations in over 100 countries. They offer Level 3 Customer Service and Level 6 Chartered Manager Degree apprenticeships:

"Our apprenticeship programs are very important to us. We support and ensure each apprentice has the opportunity to fully understand the business and become involved in a variety of different opportunities and projects.

Apprentices have moved into permanent roles in a variety of business areas. Some have taken on responsibility for training others, along with line management or mentoring more junior employees. Many have been promoted, taking on additional responsibility with clients.

Our current apprentices have already made a huge impact on our business, helping to generate sales, supporting pitches to clients and training client contacts on our systems. They are our future talent pipeline, and have been willing to challenge the way we do things."

Oxyplumb are a small local team and take great pride in offering the best price and service to all our clients so it was important that we chose the right Apprentice to join our team.

He is polite, hard working and fits into the team brilliantly. We get great customer feedback about him and the team enjoy working with him.

As we are very busy as a business, it is also important that the Apprentice is also very proactive with his course work and training to get the most out of the jobs he is part of.

Your communication from Abingdon & Witney College has also been incredible because this is the first time we have been part of an apprenticeship and you have all made the journey a pleasure to be part of. Nothing is too much trouble and we can ask for help or guidance whenever we need it so a BIG thank you to you all.

Employer: GW Consulting International (GWCI)

Nobody was more surprised than Tarzina to find herself working as an Level 3 Business Administration Apprentice for GW Consulting International (GWCI), an Oxfordshire based risk and compliance specialist. She had always been drawn to the charity sector and had ambitions to work in the human rights sector.

She saw an apprenticeship as a route to attaining a more senior position in her chosen field and saw an opportunity to use her skills and experience writing reports for charities in the research and analytical field – which is where GWCI came in!

Tarzina is very clear that she can see her path forward at GWCI. To other young people searching for the route to their future career she says: “Choose the right people and the right company rather than what is set in your mind. If you do just that you will enjoy the experience much more than if you had stuck with your original plan.”

Abingdon & Witney College Apprentice of the Year 2022

There is no denying that Viktoria Pryina is a remarkable young lady even before she excelled in her Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship at the Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) at the University of Oxford.

To young people struggling to find the next step on the career or learning ladder Viktoriia says: “I would definitely say do an apprenticeship. You don’t have to pay, you get paid. You will have great opportunities and experiences and you will access all kinds of business, communications, IT courses along the way. And, you are 99% sure to be offered a job at the end of it, so it’s a pretty secure way to start a career and even better that it’s so enjoyable!

It was Viktoriia’s hard work and determination that saw her win Apprentice of the Year at the Abingdon & Witney College Student of the Year Awards 2022.

GW Consulting International Chief Executive, Graham Welland, said about their decision to take on an apprentice: “We had realised that, due to the nature of the work, it would be difficult to find the right candidate, and we decided we wanted to train someone in-house over a year. It was a great opportunity to give a younger employee a job and the opportunity to build a career with GWCI.

To other businesses thinking of taking on an apprentice I would say that for us it has worked out extremely well.

It took a lot of time and effort to find the right person that would fit into the team. We interviewed three people short-listed from ten and we grilled them quite hard with a lot of in-depth questions. It was certainly a challenge for Abingdon & Witney College, who had never delivered this type of apprenticeship before, and had to evolve as it went along, but with great success. We are now trying to expand the business and have just won some very good contracts.

I would say it is very likely indeed that we will be taking on more apprentices in the future.”