My first post on this blog was entitled “Becoming an Apprentice”, and at the time I had been working at the university as an apprentice for just over six months. As I near the end of my first semester as a member of staff in the School of Materials, it feels like a good time to reflect on the differences between the beginning and the end of my apprenticeship, and talk about the process of beginning to work in a new role at the university.
Over three years ago, I was asking myself the question “what am I going to do next?” and the University of Manchester gave me the answer to that question in the form of an amazing opportunity to become one of the apprentice laboratory technicians, gaining experience in laboratories all throughout the university alongside gaining multiple qualifications and attending training sessions designed to prepare me for a future role at the university.
One thing I’ve learnt about life over the last few years however is that even when you have an answer, you should still be asking yourself ‘what next?’. The nature of the apprenticeship at the university means that there is no guaranteed job at the end of it. This isn’t because the university doesn’t want you to stay with them after your training, in reality it’s completely the opposite. The apprenticeship gives you the opportunity to find out what you want your next step in your career path to be, and to discover for yourself what type of laboratory you’re interested in working in. After your first two years as an apprentice, you are provided with plenty of support to apply for roles at the university that you are well suited to.
This level of support was what lead me to apply for two amazing roles within the university during the summer this year, and ultimately it resulted in one of the most unusual afternoons I’ll ever experience. Both jobs were in areas I had previously enjoyed working in throughout my apprenticeship, and I was offered two interviews both scheduled for the same afternoon. Within the space of three hours I interviewed for, and was offered, two different roles within the university which both speaks wonders about the apprenticeship scheme in general, and offers reassurance to people wondering what will happen once they reach the end of their apprenticeship. The university is definitely dedicated to ensuring that the young people they support through their training become permanent members of the university’s support staff.
It was very difficult to decide which role to accept, but after the first few months of working in the School of Materials, I’m starting to feel settled in my new role, and am confident that no matter what decision I had made I would have been thoroughly happy with the outcome. Just because I’m no longer an apprentice, the learning curve is far from over, and I’m slowly starting to adjust to the higher levels of responsibility involved, and the extra levels of organisation and planning that can be taken on when you know you’re going to be working in one place for longer than a few months.
Many of the ‘original’ cohort of apprentices already have permanent roles at the university, and I wish the best of luck for the future to the current apprentices, both those who are just starting to wonder what is next for them at the university and look into applying for roles, and those who have just discovered that the apprenticeship scheme is what the next couple of years will hold for them.
A huge thank you is in order to everyone involved in the apprenticeship scheme for the opportunity and the help and support they’ve provided over the last few years, and I can only hope that I’ll be able to provide similar support to future cohorts of apprentices at the university!