University of Oxford Apprentices: 2019

Apprenticeship Expo and Awards 2020!

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Our apprentices visit Brussels

A few of our apprentices were selected to go on an Apprenticeship trip to Brussels this month, where they would meet with MEPs and member of the European commission. The trip was organised by MEP Judith Bunting and included tours of the EU parliament as well as talks with MEPs about how the EU helps to fund Apprenticeships.

Click here to watch a short video clip from their trip!

Teya Agnese, Apprentice Clinical Trials Support Officer in NDORMS

The apprentice trip to Brussels was so informative and interesting. I felt like I learnt a lot about MEPs and what their job roles are, the skills they require and what they do/ are involved in. We attended a talk on life as an MEP performed by Judith Bunting herself and I found this really inspirational. She made a lot of points about what she did as an MEP (attending a lot of meetings, being involved in debates about current issues and making decisions about solutions, writing reports and campaigning) and also the skills that you may require to be one. For instance, you should be able to prioritise more important tasks over others, despite them all being important, and also never being afraid to ask questions. If you were unsure which task was more important than another, then she said to not be afraid to ask your manager which ones to complete first.

I also learnt a lot about the other apprentices on the trip, the different varied types of apprenticeships available and about how apprentices can take advantage of the ERASMUS+ and pro programmes.

On day 2, the morning included a small tour of the European Parliament which included the Hemicycle. The Hemicycle was a beautiful part of the parliament and it was really interesting finding out more information about how the debates work and where people sit (alphabetical order, unless places in the front seats).

During the formal drinks reception, a few MEPs performed a speech to all apprentices. I found George Cunningham’s story really fascinating and got very excited when he came over to speak to us about his story to how he got to the position he is in now: The Chair of Liberal Democrats Overseas. Throughout his 20’s, he decided to walk across Africa with a backpack for charity which took over 2 years to complete; he said was challenging yet rewarding! He then kick-started his career serving as an officer in the British Army and later became EU ambassador to Afghanistan. He has also been very focused on helping young people which is why he gave a speech to us apprentices. I found his story very inspiring and he gave us all encouraging words of wisdom to stay motivated and strive for success.

I was also really excited to meet Judith Bunting as she was the person who offered this amazing opportunity/ apprentice trip to Brussels. Judith was so friendly and welcoming to all of the apprentices and it was an honour to meet both her and George.

I really enjoyed being able to network with other apprentices and also meet MEPs. I thought this was a brilliant opportunity in case we ever need help or advice in the future about our apprenticeship/ career. I found hearing other people’s stories really motivating which made me reflect on how much of an amazing opportunity it is and how lucky I am to be an apprentice.

Harriet Goss, Events and Administrative Apprentice at Said Business School

During the Apprentice trip to Brussels, I had the honour of meeting MEP, Judith Bunting, who shared valuable insights on the work that goes on behind the closed doors of the European Parliament.

We arrived in Belgium late afternoon/evening on Tuesday 15 October. After checking in to our hostel, we made our way to the European Parliament building to attend a formal drinks reception, hosted by Judith.

The reception kicked off with talks by Parliament members, including Ben Butters (Deputy CEO of EuroChambers), George Cunningham (Chair of Lib Dems Overseas and former Deputy EU Ambassador to Afghanistan) and Lucy Nethsingha (MEP for East of England). We also had the opportunity to hear about the Erasmus+ Scheme, which has now been extended to Apprentices. Erasmus is an exciting opportunity offered to people of all backgrounds and walks of life to work, study and live abroad.

As someone who has always been interested in studying abroad, I was really happy to learn that the Government increased the funding of this scheme, opening up more doors for young people, like myself. After this we had free time to network with MEPs and other Apprentices.

Fast-forward to Wednesday 16 October, in which we returned to the European Parliament Building.

We were given an insightful talk on ‘Life as a MEP’. This gave myself and the other Apprentices the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about how Parliament operates.

Following on from this, we were then given a tour of the HemiCycle. This is the large, televised room that sits 751 MEPs from 7 political groups.

The speaker described the layout of the room, explaining where each political party sat. I was fascinated to hear that 24 different languages were spoken in this room. Further, that Parliament had numerous translators constantly relaying information in various tongues.

We then had free time in Brussels, which we spent doing all the touristy things; eating chips, buying Belgian chocolates, taking multiple photos of pretty buildings etc.

The trip then came to an end and we all embarked on a long journey home.

I am so glad that I attended this trip. I’ve made many valuable connections and new friendships within such a short period of time, all of whom I intend to stay in touch with.

This really was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and to be in Parliament at such a pressing time in history is something I did not and will not take for granted.

Overall, a great trip to Brussels! It was short but sweet… and definitely something I will never forget!

Matthew Harris, Apprentice Administrative Assistant in Central HR

We were only in Brussels for two days but there was loads packed into those two days!

We arrived in Belgium late afternoon on Tuesday and the first thing we did was check into the hostel, after that it was back on the metro to visit the EU parliament, where there was a really insightful reception event for all the apprentices on trip, there was about 50 of us in total, some from South-East England and some from the East of England.

We had a few talks from various members of the EU parliament and from those who were championing apprenticeships and the Erasmus+ scheme which allows for apprentices to work all over Europe and gain experience working abroad as part of their apprenticeship, there was loads of free food and drinks too which was nice!

I enjoyed getting to know the other apprentices at this event, many of whom were from outside of Oxfordshire in places like Kent, Surrey and Berkshire. It was really interesting to learn about the opportunities for apprentices in Europe and to meet lots of interesting people.

I also loved exploring the city and getting to try the local food and beer, I’ve never been to Brussels before but it was a really inspiring city with plenty there to keep us busy.

On the second day we went back to the EU parliament and attended a talk from one of the civil servants who works there. He wasn’t attached to a particular party or anything and explained to us in detail about how MEPs across Europe take their seats in the hemicycle and also about how decisions are made, there was a lot of information which I learned here that I did not know before going on the trip.

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Abingdon & Witney's Apprentice of the Month - Charlotte Parish

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1 hour in Marketing, packed within a day of work experience

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By Daniela Cazan

Thinking back to the time I was 15, starting my week of work experience for a Marketing and Design Agency, has had a BIG impact on where I am now.

The week of discovering new digital tools and jumping into ‘the business world’ was an eye-opener. Being my first ever experience of using social media and utilizing my creativity as part of work, was so enjoyable that I ended up volunteering to work every Wednesday afternoon.

So now looking back to my personal experience, I knew I wanted to do the same, to offer some sort of support or guidance for other young students finding their way in life. The opportunity to offer the insights of my job role, Digital Marketing, popped up recently and I took it INSTANTLY! Sharing the day-to-day role in Digital Marketing is hard to show, as one day you could be creating pages for a website, and the next day attending an event. The variety of opportunities to network and constantly gain new insights into the fast-pace role is what Digital Marketing is all about.

I was offered an hour to mentor a young lady who was on her day of work experience, gaining insights into HR, Finance, Marketing and more. As it was my first time in mentoring, I decided that providing the chance to create a video clip and create a social media post would be the best option for Ellie to get the ins and outs of Digital Marketing.

Video clip
We initially started producing a short clip on a digital tool called Lumen5, it’s a short number of slides with images and text that can be used as Ads around the Saïd Business School Tv screens or via social media platforms.

To begin with, we went through the brand guidelines of the school. To promote any organisations work, you must have some sort of brand image, so people recognise who you are i.e. by communicating in a specific tone of voice. We then inserted the scripted text, to which some slides were automatically generated. Now, this is where the fun started. We could insert images from the event (Map the System – Global Final 2019) and play around with the layout and the position of the text. This may sound easy but it’s quite fiddly, in the way you don’t want the text to override the image itself.

As Ellie’s first try, the clip looked great! I was impressed by how quick she picked things up (see above)!

Social media post

After the amazing try of producing a clip on Lumen5, I thought we could give a go at creating a post for social media. We began with HootSuite, a digital tool that allows organisations to schedule posts for all social media platforms. Which was a shock to Ellie, as she always thought all social media posts were published live. Though this can be the case sometimes when ‘live-tweeting’.

We began with Ellie’s interests and what she would typically see on Twitter, we then used this idea to draft a post on Hootsuite for our Twitter account @SkollCentre. Expressing the key message of the post with the use of hashtags, @ holders, URL links and use of media. Creating this ‘rich’ twitter post while being within the 280 characters. Once happy with the draft, we both asked ourselves, would we find this post interesting? Does the post stand out? When answered yes that’s when we decided to schedule the post.

The experience in shadowing Ellie producing some amazing content in such little time, was rewarding. Spending an hour sharing insights in Digital Marketing to a young student, who came out with a newly learned skill. Made me want to carry on providing support to young people on their journey of finding their ideal job.

Written by:
Daniela Cazan, Digital Marketing Apprentice, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School.

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Meet our digital marketing apprentice

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Jo Allen makes it through to the regional stages in the National Apprenticeship Awards!

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Apprentice work-shadowing

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Once again our apprentices led the way in developing new ways of learning skills and gaining experiences in the workplace. Read on to see how Teya and Jo broadened their horizons...

Recently, two of our fantastic apprentices got together and decided it would be an incredible opportunity to do some work shadowing around each other's roles.

Josephine Allen, apprentice training administrator at the Oxford Learning Institute, currently runs the social apprentice network for the University of Oxford. Teya Agnese works in the Surgical Invention Trials Unit (SITU) as an apprentice clinical trial support officer. We caught up with them both recently to find out how they got on...

Teya (left) and Jo (right)

We asked Jo...

Who did you work shadow?
Teya Agnese, Apprentice Clinical Trial Support Officer
Describe something new you learned from the day...
The day was a useful experience on so many levels. It was fantastic meeting another University team and seeing how they work and it was so interesting to learn about Teya’s role and the systems she uses. One particular highlight for me was learning how to create a Macro on Excel and it is something that I have taken back to my own department to now implement.
What would you say was the biggest benefit of work shadowing?
Teya and I have now both had a turn in leading the work shadowing and being the shadowee. The biggest benefit for me when I had Teya shadowing me was just realising throughout the day how much I have learnt during my role here at the OLI and how confident I have become in doing my job. As the shadowee, the biggest benefit was the opportunity to gain inspiration from another department and to see if there were things that I could take back to the admin team at the OLI to improve our own systems.
Any other comments from the day?
It was a really enjoyable experience and has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the wider picture here at the University.

We asked Teya...

Who did you work shadow?
Josephine Allen at the Oxford Learning Institute.
Describe something new you learned from the day...
I learnt a lot about The Oxford Learning Institute and the process the team has to ensure that setting up the courses is easy and efficient. This included pre-event planning such as contacting speakers for the course and checking their availability, event organisation including setting up the room, printing handouts and ordering refreshments and lastly, what to do after the event has finished including circulating notes and collecting feedback. The skills I learnt were: project management, effective planning and the organisation of small and large-scale events.

Another skill that I learnt was the analysing of a workplace calendar and finding a date when all speakers/ managers are free to run a course - this included scheduling, problem solving and diary management skills which I have incorporated in my current role.
What would you say was the biggest benefit of work shadowing?
It was fascinating for me to see how much I know about my role and about clinical trials. By teaching Jo, this enabled me to see how much I knew and I surprised myself – I knew more than I thought! Also, being able to work alongside another apprentice to see what they do on a day-to-day basis and watch how they and their team work together was really useful. From the experience I felt truly inspired, more confident and I took many useful tips on how I could advance my skills.
Any other comments from the day?
I found work shadowing extremely useful and exciting! It tested my skills and made me think more about my role as an employee and as an apprentice. I feel I learnt a lot from the experience and look forward to being involved in more in the future. I highly recommend work shadowing to other apprentices!

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University of Oxford wins ‘Best Apprentice Employer’ - South East Regional Award

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Apprenticeship Poster Award - Georgia Smith

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Apprentice Manager Award 2019 - Liisa O'Brien

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The winner of our Apprentice Manager Award went to... Liisa O'Brien!!

We asked Liisa a few questions about her role in supporting an apprentice and winning this award...

1) Who is your Apprentice?

Josephine Allen, who is completing a Business Admin Level 2 & 3 Apprenticeship.

2) Can you describe some benefits of taking on someone who is undertaking Apprenticeship based training?

It gives an apprentice a great opportunity to apply their learning into the role that they are doing.

Our apprentice has come in and learnt very quickly how to do things which I haven't even heard of.

For me, I love developing people - that part of my job and training people up was one of the best bits about it.

You're training them up from scratch and it's really exciting having someone in who isn't coming in with "oh, well I do it this way". It's a massive benefit because they are going into college and learning about the theory behind administration, and then you're putting into practise their learning.

3) What was your reaction to winning your award?

I was shocked to hear my name being called out but feel really honoured to be recognised in this way by the Apprenticeship team and Jo who nominated me.

4) What would you recommend to anyone else considering an Apprenticeship/taking on an apprentice?

We decided to recruit an apprentice 2 years ago, when we had been unsuccessful in recruiting for a grade 4 Administrator. At the time, I met with the Apprenticeship team and was told about the benefits and challenges that recruiting an apprentice could bring.

This wasn't the first time I had recruited a member of staff with little or no experience of working in an office and I'll be honest, I did have concerns about the challenges that it might present me and the difficult conversations I may of had at first. Some of the apprentices haven't ever had office experience so it did make me feel quite anxious.

In reality, quickly on meeting the candidates in the interviews put me at ease straight away. On appointing my new apprentice Jo, I felt confident that with a strong training and development plan, she would be well capable to take on responsibility for the activities in line with her grade. And after two years, she should be in a position to successfully secure herself a grade 4 administration role.

We are now 15 month into the Apprenticeship, and Jo has successfully completed the coursework and off the job training to complete her level 2 Business Admin qualification and she is now taking great steps towards the level 3 qualification which she has another 12 months to complete. Jo has quickly learnt the basics of the role of a training administrator and has been part of a team that has been through significant change, implementing new business systems and often working independently on small administrative projects to drive our department forward in a time of structural change.