Apprenticeships

Oliver - Finance Apprentice, Finance and corporate 

What does your apprenticeship involve on a day-to-day basis?

"Day to day in my apprenticeship I work looking mainly at the children’s and education side of finance. Some of the tasks I cover include raising bulk purchase orders so that our suppliers can get paid for their services. I also check all the invoices we have received from these suppliers and see what outstanding orders are still to be paid. I also help with looking at the post approvals work where I can assist with. This is where areas of the service area request for either new members of staff or contact variations. I help with costing up how much the changes will be and gathering any information that is missing from the initial request to send to budget holders for approvals.

What do you find most interesting about your role?

“The greatest challenge is coping with the level of responsibility that you have with children’s education. I ensure I remember that each child is different and that they will require different levels of intervention. Some days will be really chaotic and you feel like you’re chasing your tail, but it’s always worth it.”

How will you apprenticeship help you with your future career?

"Currently working as a finance apprentice will help my future career as I hope to progress all the way into becoming an accountant starting off with this will give me a lot of experience and will help me a lot further down the line as I believe hands on experience in the workplace will give me a more “real world” approach to tasks."

Charleigh, Events Apprentice, Event Management

What do you find most interesting about your job?

"My job is extremely interesting and I have been fortunate enough to have worked such a large array of events so far. The Radio One Big Weekend was the first event I was involved in. I thoroughly enjoyed going behind the scenes of such an immense event to see how it is planned and put together.

Since then I have worked on many events including: the Godiva Festival, the International Children’s Games and the Queen’s Baton Relay. What I love most about my job is that every day is different, with different challenges to overcome and countless memories made!”

How will your apprenticeship help you with your future career?

"My apprenticeship will set me up for a great career in events. Being part of the council I also get a lot of opportunity to work with other teams, meaning my knowledge and skills are greater than I had ever would have expected.”

What advice would you give to someone thinking about applying for an apprenticeship?

"I am a massive advocate for apprenticeships having already completed one and now completing this one; I am fortunate to have gained such a wide range of knowledge and skills whilst earning my certification at the same time.

Getting to ‘earn while you learn’ makes my work life balance much easier. As I don’t need to have a secondary job alongside earning qualifications I have a lot of downtime to myself. Apprenticeships tend to bring together like-minded people and I have met lots of great people through my apprenticeship.”

Tyler, Combustion and Heating Apprentice, Repairs and Maintenance

What does your apprenticeship involve on a day-to-day basis?

"On a day-to-day basis I can be doing various tasks including: plumbing, gas engineering, general labouring, gas servicing, or changing parts on boilers."

What do you find most interesting about your apprenticeship?​

I like meeting new people and spending time in a work environment. I enjoy getting familiar with and understanding the history of the buildings.  I also get to learn new skills and develop my knowledge on the job."

What advice would you give to a person who is thinking about applying for an apprenticeship?

“If you are interested in getting a job within the council then an apprenticeship is a great way to start, you gain hands on experience and gain a qualification and put into practice your skills and understanding into a job" 

Ali, Learner Services Apprentice, Adult Education 

What does your apprenticeship involve on a day-to-day basis?

The day-to-day tasks that my apprenticeship involve general admin tasks such as:

• Answering the phone and answering learner’s enquiry's.
• Enrolling learners onto courses.
• Taking payment from learners for courses.
• Sending emails to external stakeholders.
• Working with various teams within Adult Education.
• Other general admin tasks

What has been your greatest challenge? How have you dealt with it?

My greatest challenge must be public speaking. I have been able to overcome this by speaking at a school assembly to promote apprenticeships as a pathway and what kind of apprenticeships we offer at Coventry City Council. The opportunity to speak with the students was extremely valuable and insightful. 

What are your plans when you finish your apprenticeship?

My plan once I complete my apprenticeship is to stay within Coventry City Council. To be more specific to move over to the Supported Accommodation and Housing Team. I want a balance between office working and outdoor working and becoming a Supported Accommodation Officer is the best of both worlds. 

Jacob, Highways Maintenance Apprentice, City services

What does your apprenticeship involve on a day-to-day basis?

Since I started my apprenticeship, every day has been different, some days it’s tarmacking, laying kerbs, slabbing and block paving or general labour, working on repairs or installation of new highways.  It’s important to follow all health and safety protocols as we are working on busy highways and working around heavy machinery.

What do you find most interesting about your apprenticeship?

Working with different gangs, learning new things from those with more experience.  We go to college on block release every quarter and have attended many training courses which has helped build my skills and knowledge.

What advice would you give to a person who is thinking about applying for an apprenticeship?

It is a good way to develop life skills and understand a working environment. Getting to learn and earn makes work life balance much easier. As there’s no need to have a secondary job. With the qualifications you may pick up on the way it can help lead to lots of things in the future.

Fathema, Customer Services Apprentice, Customer and Digital 

What does your apprenticeship involve on a day-to-day basis?

On a day-to-day basis I complete a lot of tasks throughout the day, which include calling residents about device bank collection, emailing and replying to residents who enquire about my team (#CovConnects) and services, arranging meeting agendas for my team meetings, visiting different organisations across Coventry to support residents with any digital queries and much more!

What do you find most interesting about your role?

 I enjoy meeting new people and helping support with Digital Inclusion. My favourite thing currently is supporting the Digital Inclusion ESOL network, where I can support by giving my lived experiences on how to help and support different communities with ESOL to be digitally included. In addition to this, I love calling different organisations about their device collection from our #CovConnects device bank. I enjoy seeing how excited everyone is and how much it makes a difference in resident's lives across Coventry!

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about applying for an apprenticeship?

Do it! I encourage everyone to apply for an apprenticeship since it is a great way to get work experience, study at the same time and you will gain a qualification at the end of the apprenticeship. You will receive first-hand work experiences throughout your apprenticeship which is a great way to build confidence, leadership, independence and many more skills.