My Apprenticeship Journey

Hi, I am Honey, a 17-year-old Business Administrator Apprentice. I started my apprenticeship at Excellect in September 2019.

When I was at school, I always knew that I did not want to go to college and wanted an apprenticeship. I believed it would be more beneficial for me as I prefer learning on the job and find it easier to learn that way. When I finished my exams in the summer, I was unsure on what I was going to be doing in September. I had applied for a place at my local sixth form just incase I did not find an apprenticeship, but I was determined to find one.

I enjoyed Business Studies at school, so I wanted to find a business-related apprenticeship. I was looking on the GOV website and I started to take an interest into digital marketing and applied for a few but had no response.

During the summer I received an email from my school which had advertised an open evening for Professional Apprenticeships, and I went along. They were all really friendly and talked me through all of the apprenticeships they had to offer. The team were very helpful and spoke to students individually looking at CVs and giving out their business cards for people to contact them if they were interested.

A few days later I contacted Professional Apprenticeships advising them of my areas of interest. I was invited to have a meeting to talk about what apprenticeships would suite me. A few weeks later I was invited to interview for a Business Administrator apprentice at Excellect. I was given prep questions by Professional Apprenticeships and they helped me to start preparing for my interview. We discussed what questions I may get asked and I started to think about how to answer those questions. The following week I was invited for a mock interview with them, where they helped me to develop my answers and prepare for my interview. This made me a feel more confident and more at ease about what to expect.

The following week I had my interview. I felt really nervous about it as it all happened so quickly. I met Simon, the Managing Director of Excellect at Ashton Gate Stadium. Simon was really friendly and put me at ease. During the interview I was able to find out more about Excellect. I felt that the interview went well and was hoping that I would get the role.

When I received the call that I was successful, I was shocked as it was only my first interview and I didn’t have any experience. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to meet everyone.

September 9th 2019 was my first day at Excellect. I was really anxious as I have never been in an office environment. Everyone was really welcoming and made me feel part of the team instantly. Over the 8 months at Excellect, the team have been really supportive. I started my apprenticeship learning the administrative daily tasks. After a few months into my apprenticeship I have gained more confidence in my role and have been given an opportunity to be a part of the Sports and Social Committee. This involves finding activities we can all do as a team, which always turn out to be great fun.

I am currently learning about a different part of the business, where I help to look after our flexible benefits clients. I am enjoying this part of the job and excited to continue my training. I have enjoyed developing my knowledge in the insurance broking world. I also love how close everyone is at Excellect and that we do many team building activities which brings the team closer together - I especially enjoyed when we all participated in an escape room.

I hope to have a future at Excellect where I can continue to expand my knowledge in this sector.

My advice to anyone leaving school and is unsure on what path to take, would be to try and find an apprenticeship in something that you are interested in. I have gained more confidence and enjoy having a structure to my day. I have met some amazing friends and my social life has got bigger. I would have never thought that I would be working for an insurance broker when I left school, but it’s been great. I have also seen that more opportunities can come from an apprenticeship. In the future I would be interested in taking exams and participating in any other learning opportunities.