When we think about apprenticeship, one of the common thinking is that this type of programmes is an option to pick immediately after studies or in general something to do whilst one is relatively young and inexperienced. If it is true that apprenticeship can help in securing a job or provide an easier access to some specific work-fields, it is certainly not something that would benefit or should be considered solely by very young people.
The current work environment has become extremely dynamic: long gone are the days when landing a job in a medium-big company would secure your career for a lifetime! Nowadays one’s circumstances can change very quickly, the work environment is becoming more and more competitive and it’s crucial to keep up with the new trends, devices, systems, processes and just in general new ways of working.
If at any point of your career, no matter in which field or stage or level, you are questioning yourself if it’s the time to step up or take a new and fresh direction, how to take the next step could be an overwhelming challenge.
This would be a situation where an apprenticeship could be the best option to explore and the next move to fully understand your own potential, skills and preferences.
At The Apprenticeship Network we provide programmes that cover a wide variety of subjects, fields and development targets, suiting candidates of every age, degree level and work experience.
Joseph, 42 years old, is living-proof that you are really never too old to start an apprenticeship. This are his comments:
Hello, my name is Joseph, I am 42 years old and I am a recent graduate of a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship with The Apprenticeship Network. I am currently working in the Marketing department of a big hospitality corporation, and I have been in this role for the last 6 years, after moving across different positions within the same company for 15 years! I didn’t have a background in marketing as such, but when an option came for an internal move to the marketing department I took a leap of faith, applied and I was selected!
Although I enjoy my current role and I am now very comfortable working with clients and colleagues, I felt it was the right time to step up and make my next career move. Here comes the big challenge: I just realised that the knowledge and skills I have developed in this field are all related almost exclusively to the ways we have been working in my company for many years and that the world outside has actually moved ahead at an incredible fast-pace! When exploring other job position descriptions, other companies that could have a suitable role for me, I was almost in shock when I realised that my knowledge was now so limited and the systems I have been using for years are now completely outdated!
I learned through my HR team of an opportunity to apply for an Apprenticeship in Digital Marketing with The Apprenticeship Network and after consulting with my line-manager and the trainers I decided that it was the best step to take to enrich my knowledge, refine my skills and go back-on-track with the current “ways of marketing”, before applying for a new position or even a completely different job. My application was successful and I started the programme full of excitement and willing to learn as much as possible.
Being a father of two with a very busy family-life outside work, I cannot hide that I was very apprehensive in taking on a new challenge however I found the programme at The Apprenticeship Network extremely flexible and supportive of everyone’s situation. Being the oldest of my cohort it was initially quite daunting to be in sessions with much younger colleagues, but I actually found this to be one of the best benefit of the programme: being in contact with others coming from different backgrounds, with different ideas, opinions and learn from each-other as much as possible! The Apprenticeship Network gives also access to the Apprenticeship Community, an incredibly useful platform where you can attend online sessions on a variety of topics, use their content library to dig into different subjects and most importantly network! I have learned so much through the apprenticeship, refined my skills, technical and soft, and developed new ones, and most importantly I got back the self-confidence to go out and explore which other opportunities are available for me within my company and outside.
I would definitely recommend signing up for an Apprenticeship as your next interim career step before the big move!
For more information on The Apprenticeship Network programmes, please visit: https://theapprenticeshipnetwork.co.uk
