On Monday 8th July an Apprenticeship Roadshow appeared in the Forest of Dean, hosted by the wonderful AccXel Construction School. Organised in partnership between the Gloucestershire Careers Hub and Gloucestershire Wiltshire Partnership, this event was the third of four, following two previous events held in Gloucester and Cheltenham.
The aim of these Apprenticeship Roadshows was to bring together a panel made up of Apprentices, Degree Apprentices, Employers and Training Providers to talk about the whole Apprenticeship Journey. Each roadshow follows the same format, starting with an introductory presentation around Apprenticeship Mythbusting from The ASK programme, followed by a series of questions asked to the panel, focusing first on the role a training provider plays in an Apprenticeship. Next, attendees heard from an Employer on the benefits of Apprenticeships, and finally heard first hand from the Apprentices themselves. Joining us on the evening were Apprentices studying; Business Administration, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing and Groundworks. The panel Apprentices shared their personal experiences of the application and interview process, their Apprenticeship journey and any advice for anyone considering an Apprenticeship.
Publica Project Manager Mikki Liddiatt joined the panel to share how her employer helped her access a Level 4 Associate Project Manager Apprenticeship while working in the Forest of Dean District Council's Regeneration team. On the Apprenticeship Roadshow she said,
"These types of events are extremely important to help parents and students understand more about the options that are available to them and the steps that they might need to take. As a former apprentice, it gave me an opportunity to give an insight to what this option could really mean for those students in the room."
After the event a lot of time was spent with attendees networking with providers finding out more about their Apprenticeship provision.
At the Gloucestershire Careers Hub one of our key focus areas is raising awareness of Apprenticeships and Technical education.
If you are struggling to recruit apprentices or early careers talent then I would love to have a conversation with you around how to support secondary schools with their Careers Education.
Contact me on rob.pickup@gloucestershire.gov.uk, I can't wait to hear from you.
