Sarah Ellis, People and Development Consultant at Atkinson HR, started her Level 7 Senior People Professional apprenticeship while she was working at the Chief Executive level. We asked her about her journey:
HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITY?
Originally, I actually saw an article about apprenticeships in Charity Times, which really piqued my interest because I was working at a chief exec level at the time, and I hadn’t realised that people at a level like that could do an apprenticeship.
So, I found out about it in there, I then started doing my own research because I wanted to move in the HR sector directly. So, I actually just looked online, narrowed it down by the type of apprenticeship that I wanted to do, and then found Total People as being one of the providers of that apprenticeship and I just directly got in touch with them there through their website.
HOW EASY WAS THE APPLICATION PROCESS?
I remember it being pretty straightforward…Total People were really helpful. There was obviously a lot of form-filling to do but they gave me a contact I could get in touch with at any point, so I remember it being quite a well-supported and straightforward process.
WHAT SKILLS ARE YOU LEARNING?
The skills I’m learning on the apprenticeship are really anything and everything related to HR, so skills around advanced employment law, and the role of trade unions, case law, investigations, the importance of things like EDI, so it actually covers a really wide scope of HR at a strategic level.
HOW ARE YOU FINDING THE EXPERIENCE OF COMBINING WORK WITH STUDY?
I’m actually finding it okay. I previously did an MBA whilst working full-time, but that was like a straight degree and it was a lot more difficult whereas, because this is an apprenticeship, the way that it’s structured just fits in so much better.
WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER GOALS?
Over the years I've learned how much I love working with people and supporting people, so really my aim would be something like Head of People and Culture in a large charity that has values that align with mine.
HOW IS THE APPRENTICESHIP SUPPORTING THOSE CAREER GOALS?
The apprenticeship is absolutely vital in supporting my career goals.
When I knew that I wanted to do a career change and the kind of area I wanted to go into, and when I started looking into it, almost everything at that level required CIPD level 7, and it wasn't something that I had. And that's why it really piqued my interest when I found out about doing it as an apprenticeship.
So, I wouldn't be able to make the progress that I'm making now working in a HR role, which is great, and I know I wouldn't be able to get to the level I want to get to, without that CIPD level 7.
HOW ARE YOUR EMPLOYERS SUPPORTING YOU?
I've had two employers whilst I've been doing this process. So one when I was the Chief Executive of a charity and the other one now where I am at Atkinson HR and both have been really, really supportive because, at the end of the day, it benefits them, me doing the apprenticeship, as well because I'm learning, my skills are getting better, they understand that I need time to study as well, that I need time to kind of reflect and process things.
I think as well, it works really well for them because they're fully-funded. So as an employer, they're not having to spend often quite limited resources on funding me through an apprenticeship as well. So, they're really supportive of it.
WHAT ARE YOUR HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS APPRENTICESHIP?
The main highlight for me is being able to see how directly the learning from it is related to my role. So I'm able to almost immediately see results of doing the apprenticeship, not necessarily having to wait till right at the end before I can start to implement skills from it; it’s actually helping me in my day to day job.
So, for me that's a real highlight.
HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR APPRENTICESHIP HAS HELPED YOU?
I've been able to use the skills already that I've gained, and I do quite regularly. Literally just in this last week using knowledge from my previous Advanced Employment Law module that I've just done, it actually meant I was able to even better support a client with a policy that they were implementing, so I was able to just directly go to this subject matter that I'd learnt two weeks ago. So I was able to give an even better service to the client that I was supporting.
HOW DO YOUR TUTORS SUPPORT YOU IN YOUR LEARNING?
The tutors are great. So, my tutor Bee is an absolute fountain of knowledge with everything to do with the apprenticeship, with the CIPD. She is brilliant and I really, genuinely value the sessions that I get to have with her like every six weeks as well.
WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AN APPRENTICESHIP?
I would recommend an apprenticeship to anyone.
As I said near the start, I had no idea until I really started looking into it that they went up to level 7. I think sometimes as a misconception they’re only for people who want to do very vocational things, but actually there's a such a massive wealth of apprenticeships out there that you can do.
It's a great option as well because you can get them fully funded. So when we're going through a cost of living crisis and you look at university fees and things, actually it might be that an apprenticeship is a much better route to take. You can earn whilst you're learning and you can normally get them fully funded either through your employer who might be paying an apprenticeship levy or through gifted funding from other providers.
So yeah, I would massively recommend an apprenticeship to anyone at any level.
