I had previously worked at an Apprenticeship company which specialised in hiring 30, 16-19-year-olds for 6 months and then letting them go once there time was up. I was no different. I lasted the 6 months and was set to carry on to level 3 but due to poor communication skills, I ended my apprenticeship with no job at the end of it and more importantly, no experience.
The job search
I was out of a job for 3 months, because due to my lack of experience, companies would not take me on as I didn’t have enough experience to warrant a permanent position. After a brief stint at Domino’s pizza, I applied for a job at Project Skills Solutions. I went for an interview at Seevic College on Thursday and got offered an interview at Project Skills Solutions straight after the interview at Seevic. I had the interview and got offered the job to start on Monday.
Straight away as soon as I started I felt comfortable in the building and everyone welcomed me. I am a quiet person anywhere and starting off in a new place with new people and having to learn what the company is about and the different training courses that were very daunting and the thought of learning everything made me, even more, quieter than usual. I must have been a very annoying apprentice as even though I was learning and taking everything in, I was not portraying this being very talkative.
Challenges
Over the 12 months that I have been here, my roles have been both easy and very challenging. Some tasks I have easily grasped and then able to take them to the next level but some tasks I have struggled with. The phones have been the major issue during my time here. We have a review every month to see my progress and what I can improve on. Every review was about the phones as my job was 1st line call, getting the dates from schools and talking to clients. All involved the phones, and throughout my time this was becoming a problem. At my previous apprenticeship, I was talking to people on the phones that I had no idea what I was talking about, yet at PSS, it was a problem.
Over the months my confidence has risen and the phones are no longer a problem. I could pick up a phone at any time and answer it at any time, and this was down to the support I had from my colleagues. The reviews help as I was able to talk about the problems and we were able to look at different scenarios that I could overcome to sort the issue out.
Currently, my job roles have increased and my responsibilities have gone up, and I now feel a valuable member of the team.
My advice to people looking out for jobs and not being able to get them permanently is to look at an apprenticeship. You will gain vital experience that you need and depending on how well you get on, you may end up getting taken on permanently.
Jamie Crispin
Apprentice at Project Skills Solutions