The 40 year old apprentice

Ask me a year ago and I would have said that apprenticeships are for school leavers, looking to get into industry through a training scheme. I knew that there was a huge range of apprenticeships in lots of different sectors and career paths, but I thought that they were to help people get into a career path at an entry level. I had no idea that I would be able to do one as someone who has been working in my current career for over a decade.

Nor did I think that it would be relevant for me to do one, as surely if apprenticeships are for people who are starting their career, what could I possibly get from it?

That was before a conversation with our Apprenticeship Manager at the Office For National Statistics, and a discussion about the CIPD apprenticeship route. Danielle explained the CIPD path and her experience doing an apprenticeship, and talked through how an apprenticeship could be good for me, as it would widen my experience in the HR profession outside of recruitment.

I am now 5 months in to my CIPD L5 apprenticeship, 2 college assignments done and passed, and lots learnt on a range of HR subjects. Some of it brand new to me, some of it I knew but had never really absorbed fully or put to use until now.

Has it been all plain sailing - NO, definitely not.

First there was the need to get into the mindset of learning again. It was 20 years ago that I finished university, and other than qualifications that are a few days of training and an exam, I haven't done anything similar since. And I was never the best at managing my time at uni anyway, always more drawn to the rugby pitch, the climbing gym or the river than to my books and assignments. Thankfully, having a fulltime job has meant that the focus is there anyway.

Then there was things like referencing and bibliographies. Back at uni that meant going to the library, reading books and remembering to write down on what pages and in what books I found everything, so I could attribute it later. All I can say here is "bless the internet and modern computers"! Online searches, digitised reference books, and automated referencing in documents has saved me.

and then there has been the self imposed change, like deciding to move to a different job in the first few months of the apprenticeship, which whilst a great opportunity to work on a key business project, has changed my perspective from working in HR to working with HR, and having to understand, adapt to and be able to contribute in a completely different area.

But has it been worth it? - YES, definitely Yes!

Despite initial fears that I would fall into the bad habits I had at uni and during my A levels, actually it has been a lot easier this time (Lockdowns probably helped), and the things I have learnt and understanding it has given me, even at this early stage, has made it more than worth it. hopefully at the end of 2 years I will be a more rounded HR professional.

To anyone thinking of doing an apprenticeship, wherever you work, I would suggest talk to your apprenticeship lead if you have one, or to HR, or discuss it with your manager. Research the path you want to do and be able to articulate what you will get from it.

Most businesses are paying the apprenticeship levy anyway, so actually the costs to the business are minimal, and the time you will need to spend on the work will be more than paid back by your increase in knowledge that you can pass on to the business.

And THANKYOU Danielle, that conversation opened up a route into CIPD and HR I didn't think was available to me.