It’s National Apprenticeship week and today we’re focussing on ‘levels’. Apprenticeships can be incredibly valuable for people at all different levels of their career, whether just starting out or looking to further develop their skills.
Here, we chatted with some of our team who are studying an apprenticeship course alongside their full-time role…
Can you introduce yourself and your apprenticeship course?
Daniel Brett: Sure, I’m the Deputy Regional Manager for the South East region. I’ve been at the business for nearly nine years now and am currently on the Level 3 Team Leader / Supervisor course.
Victoria Yates: I’m Head of Change and Transformation and have been at Mabey Hire for two and a half years. I’m studying the Level 5 Improvement Specialist apprenticeship.
Neil Martin: I’ve held the role of Marketing Director for the last two years and am currently working towards the Level 7 Senior Leader with MBA qualification.
Can you tell us about your current role? How is your apprenticeship course going?
Daniel: In my role as the Deputy Regional Manager, I oversee a team of about 36 employees and am responsible for a range of duties, including customer service, compliance, health and safety, and more. I recently submitted my apprenticeship’s End Point Assessment (EPA), which marks the end of an 18-month-long course - I now just have to wait for the results!
Victoria: My position as Head of Change and Transformation means I work closely with the Senior Leadership team to improve our internal processes, as well as being our ESG lead. I’m about five months into my course and am really enjoying it. As well as hopefully gaining the Level 5 qualification, I’ll also get a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, which would be a great achievement.
Neil: As Marketing Director, it’s my job to oversee all customer facing marketing and PR activity, from managing our website and social channels to generating leads from our marketing activities. I started my course in April 2024 and am just over halfway through it now.
Why did you want to do this apprenticeship and how do you think it’ll help you grow professionally?
Daniel: I was offered the opportunity a little while ago and it seemed like a no-brainer to enrol onto it! I wanted to become a better manager, learn new skills and help my team advance and this course allowed me to do all of that. I’ve been learning a lot of new skills, including some valuable project management tools and ideas that I hadn’t been aware of previously.
I chose to focus my EPA on successfully managing a team through a period of change. I thought this would be very relevant, as Mabey Hire is a company which is always evolving and adapting.
Victoria: I spoke with my line manager a while ago about my professional development and how I can continue to push myself and they suggested engaging with our apprenticeship scheme. I already have quite a lot of experience, but this course offered me a way to enhance other areas of my professional knowledge and expertise. It’s proved really valuable to help refresh my skillset and challenge myself. I’m then able to bring my learnings back into Mabey Hire, helping us to achieve our goals as a business.
Neil: It’s actually always been an ambition of mine to hold an MBA and I wanted to push myself to achieve this goal. I was also keen to use this course as an opportunity to learn new skills, allowing me to become a better manager and contribute more to the business.
It's certainly a big commitment, with lots of work that must be done alongside our full-time positions, but it’s been incredibly rewarding so far and has recently shown me what I’m capable of achieving.
What is your plan for the next few years?
Daniel: I’m actually temporarily filling in for the Regional General Manager, which is a role I’d love to take on permanently someday. I’m very ambitious and I really want to progress as far as I can within the business.
Victoria: I’m a big believer that, while you can make plans for how you’d like your career to go, you never know when something could come up that changes that plan. With this in mind, I always try to add as much value to a business as I can and as long as I keep doing that, I’m happy! Mabey Hire is currently coming to the end of a three-year improvement plan, meaning I am focussed on how we can end this phase of work as strong as possible, before looking at how we can evolve further in the future.
Neil: With over a year still left on my course, my immediate focus is on completing that as well as I can. After that, my main goal is to be the best at my job that I can be. I also think it’s important to remain friendly and humble, delivering a high-quality service and creating a pleasant working environment.
What have you enjoyed most or taken away from your course?
Daniel: One aspect of the course which I surprisingly quite enjoyed was the presentations. While presentations are rarely a requirement of my current role, I had to do four for the apprenticeship, which has really helped to build my confidence. I also found it valuable to learn new skills and processes, all of which I’ve been able to take forwards for my day-to-day work.
Victoria: Having already learnt some of the skills being taught by my course, I’ve found it to be a great refresher. I’ve also enjoyed finding out about areas I didn’t know so much about, using these new skills to then reflect upon our existing tools and templates, all with the aim of improving our project management processes.
Neil: I really enjoy studying, so doing this course and having the opportunity to apply myself to my studies has been rewarding for me. It’s also been great learning a variety of new skills and techniques, which I’m already applying into my work. In fact, I’m even seeing my team starting to implement some of these skills too.
