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The world is opening up for the youth of today and it’s awesome to see so many opportunities for the younger generation, and although yes everything can always do better, from when I was 16 career support is improving.   Thankfully I stumbled across the apprenticeship scheme in 2000 and have never looked back. To me completing an apprenticeship was my university, but it did so much more for me than I could have ever anticipated, it has shaped my working life to what it is now and what it will be in future and that my friend is why for me Apprenticeships are the universities of life. 

It was the year 2000

I wanted to be a vet when I was at school although my grades didn’t back me up on that dream.  And I found myself wondering what I would end up doing, I really had no clue.  But I like to think I was smarter than I gave myself credit for back then.  I knew in my mind that if I had no clue what I wanted to be doing then it would be pointless going to university for years, most likely covering subjects which wouldn’t form any part of my working future and knowing me I would waste my time, having fun but maybe a little too much fun. Instead of focusing on what I was there for, and it wouldn’t be because I am not a hard worker it’s because I just wouldn’t be ‘into’ it. 

So instead there was an option of apprenticeships, I can’t quite remember how the idea came about. It must have been though school somehow and it appealed to me because you got paid, you got to work full-time and I knew that would be the best way for me to learn.  On the job.

So I started to get sent for interviews and I am so glad I was picky.  I didn’t just opt for the first placement which was offered to me, I wanted to wait for a placement which really grabbed my interest.

Now this sounded like a placement I wanted.  I lived in Shropshire and was sent for an interview in Market Drayton for a company called Mainline Events.  They were planning a big exhibition at Alexandra Palace in London (Wow London!!) and they wanted somebody to help them sell stands and help with business development. It was a small start-up company in a small office.  Of course as the job was being explained I didn’t entirely understand it all but I knew that I really wanted to be involved and I really wanted to work for that company.

So I waited and waited and waited for Graham to make a decision. I kept calling him and finally one day I got the call that YES the placement was mine.  I would be doing an NVQ in customer service but I would be part of the team actually helping to organise the event which was a big exhibition, I couldn’t wait to get started.

To cut a long story short

I worked as part of the Mainline Events team delivering the London Flower Show at Alexandra Palace which we hosted for two years, we also took over the Garden show at Hatfield House in the second year.   My main role was selling exhibition stand space, managing exhibitors and being a point of contact. It was really fun as we got to go to London for 5 days, I loved the build-up of the exhibition and seeing it all come together and was amazed at how quickly it all came down again at the end. 

From there I got a job in my local newspaper as an event executive.  I was really nervous about it because I wanted the job so so much.  Luckily the job was mine and I worked organising events and exhibitions like a careers fair, a home’s show and a technology event.  It was awesome.

And the rest the say is history

I continued to climb the career ladder for the next 16 years and my career is what it is today because of that Apprenticeship 16 years ago and the amazing people I worked with at Mainline Events.

I will be forever grateful for the Apprenticeship scheme.  From becoming an apprentice in 2000, it made me find something not just a job but a true passion.  I sincerely have a true love for organising events, I did from the moment I started working in that placement. I would never have found that if it wasn’t for my apprenticeship which is why that experience will last me a life-time.  I will always remember that everything I have achieved in my career is down to the experience I had working, learning and earning from the tender age of 16.

I have spent these last 16 years taking what I have learnt, using it and pushing myself forward and climbing the career ladder.  I moved from events into marketing because I wanted to widen my horizon but there has not ever been one year where I haven’t been involved in the organisation of events and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And here I am now running my own events agency which is now in its second year (Little Fish Event Management Ltd) and better still I am organising my very own event idea, the Mums Enterprise Roadshow all of which wouldn’t have ever happened if it wasn’t for that apprenticeship.

For me University would have been the wrong choice, being an apprentice for me has given me so much more and I wouldn’t have had it any other way and I just can’t believe it’s been 16 years!! How old am I.

And guess what, how weird is this.  My very first client was the Skills Funding Agency where I helped them organise the National Apprenticeship Awards in 2014.   I submitted a tender and won within my first two months of trading as Little Fish it was from a completely cold call.  I have won other tenders since and our latest job is to help the SFA organise a London event at the start of National Apprenticeship Week 14-18 March 2016. 

I am looking forward to getting involved in the event industry apprenticeship scheme which is being formulated and being part of the advisory board.  And as my business grows I too shall take on apprentices, I will be a life-long ambassador for the scheme and its amazing to see how the scheme has developed over the last few years.

#NAW2016

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