Customer Care Team Leader, Rebecca Wood, has recently embarked on her second apprenticeship, this time in Operational Management Level 5. She feels that apprenticeships have been fundamental to her career progression as she aims towards a management job in a global manufacturer.
What company do you work for and what is your current role?
I work for Treatt, which is an international company with headquarters here in Bury St Edmunds. We are a natural extracts and ingredients manufacturer for the global beverage, flavour, fragrance and consumer goods markets, with bases in the UK, the USA and China, and we have around 370 employees globally.
I’ve worked for Treatt for 10 years – I joined straight from school. Initially I was in the procurement department, then I moved to the commercial team and after a few years I was appointed a team leader. That’s when I started my first apprenticeship.
Why do an apprenticeship?
It was a big change to step up to team leader. It’s not like a promotion to the next step as a regular member of staff where you’re expanding your existing skillset. You’re suddenly leading a team, so you have different responsibilities and you need a different skillset.
I felt I really needed to gain new knowledge and experience, so I started a Level 3 apprenticeship studying for an ILM Certificate in Leadership and Management. I was encouraged to take the opportunity by my manager to develop my career.
What did you like about your apprenticeship?
I liked the different approaches to learning that the apprenticeship provided. I was mentored by my manager for on-the-job training, so I was watching her and learning by example. At the same time, I was learning about all the models and theories of leadership and management through my off-the-job training. I realised that each company has its own way of working but there are different approaches.
I was also able to think about my approach to leading people. Everyone has their own leadership style, and the apprenticeship helped me to identify mine. So, it was nice to have the three different layers of learning – watching someone who’d managed for many years, having the theory, and learning by doing. Having those three together is what made me the leader I am today.
How did your off-the-job training work?
My off-the-job training was one of the things that I loved most about the apprenticeship. About once a month, I went to WS Training for a day or a two-day course and had the opportunity to be immersed in a classroom-based experience.
Treatt was the first place I’d worked, so it was invaluable to meet other people on the same journey as me from very different businesses and to hear about new ideas and varied leadership styles. Sharing stories and building relationships with other people in a similar position was fantastic.
I’m about to start the same thing on my Level 5 apprenticeship and I’m looking forward to spending time with other learners on the course and the mutual support which that will provide.
How has your apprenticeship helped you?
My apprenticeship has given me a lot of confidence. When I moved into the team leader role, it would have been easy to feel out of my depth taking that big step and suddenly having that responsibility for other people.
The apprenticeship felt a bit like a comfort blanket because it gave me the opportunity to speak with trainers who had ‘been there and done it’ and had all that experience of leadership. I also had support from my fellow apprentices on the training days. Everyone around me says my confidence has grown so much since I started my first apprenticeship.
What are the most important skills you’ve learnt?
Time management, most definitely, that’s a big skill that I’ve learnt on my apprenticeship and it’s a very difficult thing to master. Also, delegation as part of managing my time. It’s still an area that I’m working on every day, but I’m a lot better than I was.
Another skill would be emotional intelligence. We learnt a lot about communication and how, when you’re leading people, it’s about picking up on the things that aren’t said as opposed to the things that are. We did a big part about reading the cues that aren’t there, about active listening and understanding people’s triggers.
How do you see yourself progressing?
With my Level 5, I’m really hopeful that management is the next step. So here at Treatt we have Team Leader, then Manager, then onwards and upwards from that. I’m hoping that my Level 5 apprenticeship will give me a great foundation for becoming a manager, especially because it’s about Operational Management and Treatt is a manufacturing company, so it fits really nicely.
What advice would you give to potential apprentices?
Absolutely do it. It’s OK to be nervous about it, that’s normal and it shouldn’t be something that stops you. If you pick a good training provider, like I did with WS Training, you will have support there. So, if you want to do it and you’re willing to put in the work, it’s a great option, but what you get out will be based on what you put in. If you don’t give it your all, you shouldn’t expect to succeed.
You can do the bare minimum and get a pass, but that’s not a successful qualification. If you give yourself to an apprenticeship, you’ll come out the other side with a much better skillset.
To find out more about the ETF’s Apprenticeship Workforce Development Programme, visit: www.et-foundation.co.uk/apprenticeships