Jack Dewhurst has used his apprenticeship in digital marketing to turbo-charge his career

Meet Jack. Jack is just 20 years old and already has a full-time permanent job, valuable qualifications that are relevant to his role, as well as more than a year’s work experience, and his career path already mapped out. He has no debt either.

That’s because he decided not to go to university and instead, chose an apprenticeship. While most people of his age are half-way through an expensive university degree course with uncertain job prospects at the end of it, Jack has finished his apprenticeship and has a job, qualifications and a bright future. This National Apprenticeships Week, we are sharing his story.

Apprenticeships have moved on a long way from the traditional image of a young lad learning a craft or manual job from a much older worker. Modern apprenticeships come in all shapes, sizes and in all industries from construction to business, and from HR to marketing and digital communications. And apprenticeship programmes are now run by companies from blue-chips to small businesses.

Jack works full-time as a PR and Communications Officer for the Capital City College Group, in the Group’s busy Marketing team. He creates content for the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channels run by the Group’s three further education colleges – City & Islington College, the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) and Westminster Kingsway College – as well as Capital City College Training, the Group’s specialist apprenticeships arm. Jack interviews and photographs inspirational students and staff, creating news stories and case studies for the colleges’ websites, as well as posting to social media.

Jack cut his digital teeth with the Group back in 2016, when – despite having offers from several universities – he started an apprenticeship in digital marketing at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL). During his apprenticeship Jack gained valuable ‘soft skills’ like team working, time management, and prioritisation skills, as well as social media skills and the ability to use a range of industry-standard equipment and software, including Hootsuite.

Jack passed his apprenticeship with flying colours and secured a job in CONEL’s Marketing team as a Digital Marketing Executive. And one year on from that, he has stepped-up again, into his current role in the Capital City College Group Marketing team.

“For me, the main benefit of an apprenticeship is getting the qualifications while gaining the experience,” said Jack. “You’re always going to need that piece of paper to say what you can do, but the practical experience and confidence that you get from an apprenticeship is something else.”

“You’re earning money as well, which has let me go on holidays and to festivals, which maybe people at university can’t afford, and at the end of it I didn’t have any debt.”

Parent power

But it almost didn’t happen. Like most teenagers, Jack’s parents are a really positive influence on him and so their opinions mattered when it came to Jack deciding which career or education route to go for.

“When I told my parents that I didn’t want to go to university after my A levels, they weren’t happy” Jack explained, “but I did my research into my options and managed to persuade them that an apprenticeship was a valuable and worthwhile alternative. Like many parents, however, his mum Sarah was far from convinced.

Sarah takes up the story: “When I asked Jack what he was going to do after leaving school and he said he wanted to do an apprenticeship, I really did have my doubts. When I was growing up, employers used apprentices to do the more menial jobs. They didn’t take the time to teach you anything, just used you as cheap labour.”

“But when Jack started his CONEL apprenticeship, I started to think it was actually quite good. It was five days a week, it was 9-5 and he also had to factor in his travel time to get there. It felt like a proper job and it was preparing him for the real world when he had a full-time job.”

Thanks to Jack’s positive experience, Sarah now has a completely different view of apprenticeships. “They have totally moved on. The fact they are backed by a government scheme gave me confidence, in that there are guidelines that have to be followed and I knew there was a certain amount of learning that was going to happen. I think it was good because it got him into the workplace and I believe he matured because of it.”

And Sarah’s advice to parents thinking about career options for their son or daughter? “I would absolutely advise people to look into apprenticeships as well as university. If your child is not sure or they find the idea of more full-on education a little daunting, then I would strongly advise looking into apprenticeships for the insight it gives you into the working world and the possibilities they offer when starting a career.”

Jack has the final word: “For some people university will be the right option. For me, apprenticeships give you that edge when it comes to experience employers are going to be looking for.”

The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London’s Enfield Centre hosted its annual Rail and Engineering Career and Apprenticeship Event in conjunction with the UK National Apprenticeship week.

Students from CONEL and local schools given information by representatives from companies such as; Siemens, NTAR, Bombardier, Alstom, Thales Eurostar, Cory energy and Miele, regarding Apprenticeship opportunities within their companies.

The event opened with a talk and presentations in the Hub to students, detailing the types of jobs the visiting companies were offering within the Engineering sector.

Diandra Marshall-Bruce, a current Siemens apprentice explained her journey as an apprentice at the London Rail Academy at CONEL’s Enfield Centre:

The group then went down to the London Rail Academy to view the training facilities and to engage with representatives from the companies to find out more information about the jobs on offer. Classes were running while the group was there, giving prospective students an authentic insight into the courses that interested them.

Barry Connelly – Director, London Rail Academy said: “The event today provided an opportunity for over 500 young people to view our excellent Engineering training facility and to engage with a number of our blue chip clients to discuss the possibility of joining them as an apprentice.”

Our training arm, Capital City College Training, also made an appearance, helping students apply and talking them through the apprenticeships available.

Project Consultant for NSAR-Connect, Nigel Eagers, said: “I think you can see that CONEL leads the way in promoting rail courses and apprenticeships. It reaches out very successfully to local communities, reaching a wide and diverse range of talent, delivering high quality apprenticeships that really benefit the industry, and leading the way in Apprenticeship delivery for the rail industry as a college!” NSAR-Connect is “a placement service that provides employers with candidates who have successfully been through an industry-leading assessment process.”

The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London student Akram Husaen said: “I have been looking at apprenticeships online but coming here has allowed me to go in more detail and speak to the companies.”

The Rail and Engineering Apprenticeship and Career Event takes place annually. It provides a great opportunity for students to get a deeper understanding of the life that awaits them after education.

City and Islington College A Level graduate Lati Gutta appeared in a Facebook live stream in February to talk about her experiences so far at Cambridge University.

In the discussion about studying as a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) student, Lati was full of praise for her new home. She went on to say, “I think we hear a lot through the media and it shapes how we feel about places like Cambridge. I was just worried that I would be an outcast and that people wouldn’t want to engage with me, but it’s been the opposite. The people are so lovely. The course is so engaging. The staff are amazing.”

The conversation invited members of the public to pitch questions for Lati and another student of Cambridge’s Downing College. One viewer asked what experiences the students had had of micro-aggressions during their studies. The City and Islington College alumnus stated that the new environment was “very different” to the diverse one she came from, that there would always be some people who were “ignorant”, but that more important everybody “was there for a reason – because they are just as qualified to be there as everybody else”.

Lati went on to acknowledge her time at the City and Islington Sixth Form College for providing the opportunity to apply for a Classics and Politics Summer School in Oxford, which she said was invaluable experience and preparation for applying to Cambridge.

“I got to stay there for a week and go to lectures, and write an essay in the same way that I write them now. It was really good to experience that before actually applying. I really enjoyed it and it pushed me to apply; any doubts I had by that point were gone.”

Lati achieved outstanding results of A*A*A in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy, and is now studying Human Social and Political Science.

At the time she said: “There was a lot of added pressure to get into Cambridge, but now I’m really excited. I almost didn’t apply but I kept surprising myself along the way. I got an interview and then an offer. I’ve proved to myself I can do things well.”

Lati’s interview is available on Facebook here.