Apprentice Business Systems Administrator Review

My role as an Apprentice Business Systems Administrator involves much of the daily work flow both carrying out business operations as well as updating and maintaining important business systems. The daily tasks that I face involve maintaining the Personnel and HR aspects of the business surrounding employee lifecycle, payroll, data protection and maintenance for audit purposes as well as responding to queries surrounding processes and advising upon best practice. I spend a lot of time day to day responding to emails and performing data entry using bespoke software which I am trained to use as well as facilitating cyclical processes inputting hours and pay rates, advertising positions, recruiting and facilitating interviews. Outside of this I assist with event planning and execution, distributing payroll and Personnel information, participating in staff meetings and monitoring the information and records supporting all employees of the organisation. I interact daily with all levels of seniority from Administration Officers to Heads of Departments. Not only do I believe it is important to engage with the people around you and work in the team, but I know that all my colleagues will support me when I am unsure of a process and can impart a lot of skills that I can take with me into the future. My daily interactions externally relate to providing information on certain employees as long as this does not compromise GDPR and liaise with services related to my employer to collaborate on operations. My responsibilities are to make sure that the relevant duties in my department run smoothly that there is an efficient information system that is easily accessible when requested by staff, that any changes or challenges surrounding employment or payroll and data processing can be accounted for and sorted efficiently. Projects I am working on are completing mandatory background checks and data collection for student participants in summer schools and educational programmes, processing and storing student information so that recruitment can follow in an unimpeded way and participating in learning programmes surrounding finance systems use and performing task relevant to operations I will be performing in the future and skillsets that I can use in future employment.

When first beginning my Apprenticeship although having previous education I lacked a lot of knowledge surrounding work experience and understanding how businesses run and to be able to support those processes. I am now only a third of the way through my placement and already I have taken on many responsibilities with no previous experience in those duties and gained many diversified skills and abilities and grown in confidence in knowing I have a good grounding which I can use to slip into similar roles of move out into new areas in the future. I participated in many free Internal training courses provided by experts in their fields which fitted around my work day instead of thrust upon me all at once. I have also been given many hours of tuition by assigned colleagues who have gladly given up their time to help me complete tasks and take an active involvement in what I do. I participated in a ten week college course on the NVQ level 2 Business Administration Intermediate Level provided by Abingdon & Witney College that gave me a good background to the theory behind business administration and a supplementation to my job. This was not however a typical modular course although highly detailed and informative, the objectives we reached were in order to push ourselves in ways that would be useful in future carer roles in presentations, research, marketing, project management, communication and critical thinking. This was a great opportunity to meet fellow apprentices in a field similar to mine all with unique roles working within my organisation and the surrounding area. The personal and professional skills that I have learned surround high quality and detailed work production in a collaboration with others and to a deadline. I have learned to take on a lot of new responsibilities and rely on my own initiative to solve problems and support the work of others, I really push myself every day which is necessary as I work in a competitive office that demand high standards of results. In my own role I am now comfortable with tackling aspects of Personnel, HR and Finance roles as well as confident that I have a part to play in assisting people with queries and coming up with ideas when projects run into difficulties.

I feel that I am really lucky to be employed in the position I am in and have found a unique learning facility that also enables me to have a full time job whilst equipping me will practice skills and further development opportunities as well as earning a qualification at the end. I enjoy the way in which my programme combines both on and off the job training as well as plenty of support and time to review although I am never forced to do anything that my managers feel I am not capable of doing, I am never bored and always encouraged as well as acknowledged for assisting others. The team I work with although not equally with everyone as that case is with all offices is a rich community of highly intelligent and skilled individuals who consistently demonstrate great proficiency in what they do. The company culture is about representing an institution of learning excellence represented in the capability of its staff and the consistent turnout and output of quality work. For a company such as this to run the way it does there needs to be an as capable staff behind it facilitating all the necessary jobs that create a harmonious package. Having said all this as an employee of this instituting you will find lots of support and a safety in the carer you are participating in that cannot be said for all companies who face many challenges that result in employee changeover. Going into this apprenticeship although a training programme is what I wanted to do I had never considered this employer as a provider, on submitting my web application and signing up to all the different associations I realised that a lot of people had put many hours into crafting this packaged training programme and there would be a clear goal to reach in all this. My training provider has defied all my expectations in the volume of resources available to me both inside and outside of work as well as all the facilities I am able to gain access to, I could not imagine a superior system or employer to sign up with. I really enjoy it, the community is fantastic as well as the offices, I am totally responsible for completing my programme over the time provided however there is no exact deadline and if it takes me longer to complete the programme I will be given that extra time. I have a line manager, a course coordinator, a college tutor and an internal assessor which means I am not kept isolated and there are regular flexible reviews to track my progress and plan my tasks. However if I were to fall behind there would be negotiation about shortening my work time to accommodate course work. You are in total control of your apprenticeship and free to explore different work avenues and pick out the jobs you like.

I applied for the post in October 2019 and by the 15th of January I was in position. For my Induction I was taken through a lot of the background of the company as well as the information relating to administration and the general structure that work follows here. I was then given some training assignment to do to ease me in as well as shown around and how to access the facility, my line manager had already put together an Induction schedule for me to have quick five minute meetings with the members of staff that I might be interacting with, to find out what their role in the company is and to get to know the people in the building. Considering that my position is a first and therefore a trial phase for the company I was very impressed at how organised they were in putting it together and making it a very easy experience. The Training I received was in part one to one tutelage in how to carry out a process and then I was left to do it myself and feel comfortable with the process however someone was always on hand and encouraged that I ask question which I frequently did. I was supported in my in-house training with some external training still provided by the company but it involved going to different locations to be given instruction and a course in the tasks that I would be performing which is mandatory for staff this gave me a change to practice time management and self-reliance. I always had someone checking I was ok to find my way and knew what I was doing, I felt I could ask them for anything and wouldn't have to tackle problems completely on my own. For studying I am given a day a week and have put a plan in place once I picked my modules to chip away gradually at them without overloading myself. I have many support meetings and mentor systems to go over how I'm finding things, once a week I have a one to one with my line manage, every three weeks I have a meeting with my NVQ coordinator and six times over the whole apprenticeship my course coordinator will come in and meet with me and my line manger to discuss my work progress, any changes and any concerns to address. When delegating a task my line manager will usually email me with the things she would like me to complete and as my Apprenticeship has progresses my inbox has become larger and larger and the more responsibility you take on the more work seems to be created for you. Although there are many opportunities where people will ask my line manager if I can help them with some work which is usually more of a pleasure for me than anything she will only accept if it seems relevant to what I am doing and only with my permission. The team hierarchy is usually in relation to someone’s position be that an assistant of and officer or a head, although I am an apprentice I do not feel looked down upon, I am just part of the team however I am aware and respect the fact that some members of staff especially in the way the company is structured don't have a lot of time to be up to date with everything you are involved in, nevertheless I have been welcomed personally by absolutely everyone I have met and treated with the utmost respect. My programme is extremely well organised I am aware of what I am doing the whole time, all necessary processes are well explained and covered in a systematic way that makes sense for the timeframe that the apprenticeship is approved under.

I believe that during my apprenticeship, support is the most important aspect that I have taken so far, my manager is always there during office hours or over email and will get back to my queries almost immediately which I very much appreciate as she is doing this as well her own role. The HR team have been very helpful in issuing training and guidance packages to me as well as being very quick in assisting processes when I need them to approve a processes I have completed when changing people on the HR system and sorting out problems if I make any mistakes. My mentor, although I have a couple is a person listen to any problems I encounter and take on board my suggestions without dismissing them they always encourage me in what I do and are quick to point out what I am doing well, they have a lot to teach me and are very patient to do so in my own time. The accessibility of support I have is endless but also nothing that I am committed to I only have to let the providers know in advance for courtesy reasons and I can be involved in most meeting that go on simply to keep myself informed of all the processes going on and any changes that will be coming up similarly to all staff members, I am thoroughly involved in the process. If I encounter any difficulties I will be given great guidance from not only mentors and monitors who are there to listen to my concerns and all the helpful staff around me but that they are interested that I complete my training and cover everything in my job criteria and will take all the time that is necessary to make sure that I can do all the tasks that I signed up to achieve. The general attitude towards supporting me is always receptive and taken very seriously as well as all external programs the company is involved in to further their reputation as an excellent employer which is a task them meet all to consistently.

I personally feel that I have been given a lot of support especially in different areas of my job which I may not have considering are requiring support. My support does not always come from the same place or person but is freely available if I need it. I have my line manager who is always there to help me with my work and is always checking to see that I am understanding what I need to do and If I am ok doing what is asked of me, as well as that we arrange weekly one to ones where we can discuss any areas for improvement and plan for future work structures. I have my course coordinator who pays me by monthly visits where we have a formal meeting with my line manager to track my apprenticeship progression log the amount of training I have completed outside of the job and plan for future learning. I have my Internal assessor who works on behalf on my external assessment provider to make sure I am progressing in my apprenticeship in a sufficient manner to merit my qualification at the end of my placement, I can raise problems I am having with that person and If there was too much or too little work for me to do. Finally for my ten week college course I had a tutor who was there supporting me, guiding me throughout the process and a great supporting attitude which made it a very enjoyable experience.

Even though I am continuing to learn on my apprenticeship I have already put a lot of what I have learnt into my job role in communication, teamwork, critical thinking and project management. A lot of the tasks I carry out are supported by in house training provided by the company I work for and a lot of the systems that I use require special training and assessment to be given access to and require proof of sufficient knowledge of the software.

There are many extra-curricular activities in the organisation I work for, not only for the fact that the office community is very proactive and inclusive for scheduling activities both inside and outside of work for staff and sharing of interesting news items relating to local events being hosted. During the year there are many of activities to get involved in voluntarily, no one will force anything however it is readily encourage purely for the enjoyment factor. As well as events there are talks, discussion groups, seminars, webinars and courses all local. Apart from work related activities, working for this organisation gives you access to many facilities both for entertainment and learning and finally a warm social community with regular out of work excursions.

Yes

I would recommend this institution to anyone seeking employment and who are unsure about going into this kind of work, in my experience and that of those people who have worked in this company for many years, it is an organisation that prides community, security and development to make sure they have the best people working for hem and will allays reward them for the effort they put into it. This is a thriving community of professionals with limitless career potential, teaching opportunity and possibility in which path fits your passion. I would recommend it without hesitation.

Although a competitive employer, that does not mean you need to limit yourself to a particular placement or location, whether applying online or through an association it always helps to get your background research on your job provider and ask those services who provide career support and knowledge of this company even for part time and temporary work how they run their operations and see if it fits what you are looking for. It is always surprising how flexible this organisation is in hiring people from all backgrounds and skill sets encouraging equal representation for all with the knowledge that a significant diverse pool ensures the maximum amount of talent for your organisation.