In March, apprentices at Wokingham Borough Council enjoyed job swaps with senior managers across the council to learn more about their roles, and celebrate the contribution apprentices make at the authority.
To mark National Apprenticeship Week, apprentices shadowed senior managers for the day; learning more about their roles and responsibilities, as well as assisting managers with a number of day-to-day tasks such as meeting with councillors. Senior managers were also given the opportunity to shadow apprentices.
Aaron, who took part in a job swap with Josie Wragg, interim director of localities and customer services said, “The job swap was a truly immersive experience for me. It widened my knowledge and increased my understanding of how the council operates. Josie was brilliant and it was fascinating when I shadowed her to see just how much work was needed for just one project. It made me appreciate how teams collaborate to achieve targets.”
Since the start of the apprenticeship levy fund back in May 2017, the council has been able to recruit six apprenticeships in business administration, IT and customer service, and a further eight across maintained schools – 14 in total.
Despite these impressive numbers, the council is striving for more to opportunities across services for all. An apprentice in project management as well as one in property management have both started this month, while the council is continuing to look to recruit degree-level apprentices of all ages including an apprentice solicitor and apprentice chartered surveyors. All of these vacancies, which are open to everybody, will be made available on the Wokingham Borough Council website.
“After college I felt that I had outgrown the school environment, but found the idea of going straight into the workplace daunting” said Chlöe who is doing an apprenticeship in customer services. “I chose an apprenticeship as I saw it as a good bridge between the two. Doing an apprenticeship in customer services has provided me with valuable work experience and has also helped me to learn more about myself and what I want to achieve.”
Chloe’s manager, Pam Mulshaw, said “Having an apprentice is enabling us to develop a new talent within our customer services team. Being based at the front line of the council is giving Chloe the grounding for how to deliver good customer services which is a fundamental skill she will be able to take with her as she continues her career path within the council.”
