Charlotte works in the Central Vacancy Unit at Connexions Nottinghamshire providing administrative support to a team of recruitment advisers. The job also includes taking calls from young people using the Vacancies Online website to apply for work and training. As Charlotte used Vacancies Online to apply for her own job she knows what the young people are going through!
Charlotte left school with good GCSEs and worked as administrator for another company. As she wasn’t getting formal training she decided to look for something different. She successfully applied to Connexions and within 13 months she completed her Apprenticeship. Charlotte chose apprenticeships because she wanted to further her learning while earning a salary and getting a feel for working life. Business administration appealed, as she had enjoyed her admin work experience at Nottingham City Hospital. She enjoys being in a working environment, getting paid a decent wage, learning lots of new things and working towards qualifications. She would recommend an apprenticeship to anyone who wants to start work straight from school and knows the work area they want to do.
Charlotte’s next step is an advanced apprenticeship. She hopes that getting the extra qualifications will increase her future employment prospects and give her access to a wider range of higher level opportunities. This is the first time that the CVU have employed an apprentice and it’s been useful in many ways. “It helps us see things from the employer’s point of view and it gives us real examples we can use when telling employers about the benefits of apprenticeships. For example, Charlotte went on an Excel course through the apprenticeship and now she’s our Excel expert, training the rest of the team and sorting out problems!”
