Event Co-ordination Apprentice Review

My job title is Event Co-ordinator Apprentice. The team I work in organise the Christmas Party, the Service Awards and various board meetings all over the world. My daily tasks consist of visiting venues, attending food tastings, putting together gifts for employee’s service and creating schedules and spread sheets for all of the events.

I am currently studying for a level 3 Diploma in business and administration which allows me to learn a range of different areas relating to my role and also other relevant roles I may be interested in moving into. I have gained so much knowledge and experience about organising events in the short 4 months I have been at Fidelity.

I enjoy the tasks I do on a day to day basis and learning about organising events from my team. I find that my college course can be a little easy at times and involves me researching online a lot of things instead of learning knowledge from the college. The team I work within are great!! They have been so welcoming and friendly and have taken the time to teach me things even though they are busy. The company culture is so much better than I expected, it is relaxed and everyone is friendly but everyone works extremely hard. I would have given this question a 10 star if it wasn't for my college course.

My manager is very appreciative and this keeps me motivated. I feel that so far I haven't received any recognition but that is because I have only worked her for a very short time and therefore haven't got much to be recognised for yet. However I know that in the future I will be recognised for things if I deserve it because that's just how Fidelity works. For example you get gifts for long service, yearly bonuses etc.

We had a two day induction at the beginning which was good and gave us an overview of what the company does and what our apprenticeship will be like. This was great because it meant we weren't just chucked into the workplace and our roles. We meet up with our college tutors once a month (usually)to go through our work. We have various apprentice development days and socials. We are given 20% work time per week to carry out our college work. Some apprentices have 4 hours a week where they go home and study and others like myself just do their college work as and when during their day. We have regular catch up calls with our HR representative to see how we are getting on and raise any concerns. I think that the programme is structured really well!

My tutor visits once a month. She is quite slow at replying to emails however I feel she may just be busy and often I feel like there isn't a lot of guidance with the work but that may just be the course. I also feel like she is very used to working with much younger students and doesn't really adapt the way she approaches/speaks to us apprentices to match our ages!

My manager and my team give me lots and lots of support. I feel I can ask them absolutely anything no matter how silly it may seem! The HR team are always on hand by email or by the phone in case we need them. We each have a buddy which I think is a great idea however my buddy has rarely spoke to me, so I think that this could have been implemented much better. However another buddy has essentially taken on the role as my buddy and is great because I can ask him questions and he arranges regular coffee catch ups where we can discuss any issues we have. Overall the support I have received is excellent.

I think we all get paid really well for being apprentices considering the legal pay is so low. We get all of our travel to London or other offices (not where we are based) reimbursed.

Lots! Yearly apprentice social, Christmas Party, charity events, fitness classes at lunchtime, team socials, Christmas carols concert and much more.

Yes

Everyone is really friendly. It is a successful company who look after there staff really well. The apprenticeship scheme is great and the majority of apprentices go on to get full time roles with the company.

Double, triple check your CV and application and get your friends and relatives to check it too. Prepare for your interviews as much as you possibly can and stay positive. Take every opportunity put in front of you - you never know where it may lead! Don't worry too much, it'll all be ok in the end.