Eleanor and Juliet - LSP

Eleanor Smith - MIS Lead, Line Manager to Juliet

At LSP, we are an Apprenticeship Provider so, as expected, we are all about promoting Apprenticeships and developing our own members staff when they start as an Apprentice. We currently have 4 members of long term staff that started with LSP, as an Apprentice, that have flourished within the organisation and are now all in management/team leading roles. We also currently have one Apprentice, in training, completing her Customer Service Level 2 qualification. Employing Apprentices is an amazing way to get young people into employment and train them to become a vital part of a business. Apprentices are always willing to work hard and succeed.

Apprentices bring fresh, new ideas and perspectives into a business. They contribute a new personality into an organisation and often contribute to the development of mentoring and team leading skills of existing members of staff. In my own experience with our current Apprentice, Juliet, my team leading and coaching skills have really developed and I really enjoy managing and guiding Juliet with her daily work as well as her Apprenticeship.

I would always recommend bringing an Apprentice into a team, to any employer. They are a great asset to a team and they often end up becoming a long term member of staff that grow and move their way up through the organisation. Not only would I recommend an Apprentice to employers, I would recommend getting an Apprenticeship to most young people. An Apprenticeship is the best way to learn a variety of knowledge, skills and behaviours hands on, within a functioning work environment.

Juliet Hibbert, Apprentice Administrator

My name is Juliet, and I am completing a Level 2 Customer Service apprenticeship. After college, I knew that the school environment was not for me, and I didn’t want to go to university. Instead, I looked at my other opportunities, and decided that an apprenticeship looked like something I would be interested in, because you get to learn while doing the job, which I think makes it better for learning when you can apply what you are taught to real examples of your own.

However, this is just one benefit of an apprenticeship. There are many more, for instance I get a hands-on experience that I wouldn’t have received in other lines of education, and I get this while working towards a qualification, which will help me progress my career and go onto higher positions, and achieve my career goals.

Therefore, I would recommend apprenticeships to others because they are a great way to gain qualifications whilst also making money - therefore helping me to be set up for my life, for instance saving up for a house, which I wouldn’t be able to do if, for example, I went to university. Apprenticeships also provide great experience, which is very valuable to a lot of employers, and would make me stand out more than others if I was to progress onto another organisation.

I think apprenticeships are a good idea for employers as well, because they bring in new staff who in turn will bring fresh ideas to the business and grow and develop within that business. Because their apprentices will gain their knowledge of the job from the other workers within the business, they will be more tailored to that business and their role, so I think bringing apprentices into the business is a great way to get new staff.

I am very glad I chose to do an apprenticeship, and I am enjoying my work on the job and in my learning sessions. I am excited for how my future will look within my job.