Recruitment Facilitator Review

Since completing my apprenticeship and graduating from University, I have been promoted and now work in the Recruitment Department. I am responsible for the facilitation and onboarding of all front-line recruitment into the business. Whilst completing my apprenticeship, I worked in the Sales department as a Dealer Setup Administrator. My responsibilities here included ensuring that all dealerships First Response Finance Limited worked with were correctly licensed and complied with our company policies.

I have learnt a range of skills throughout my apprenticeship, starting with building confidence when speaking to people on the phone, all the way through to technical/specialist skills when setting dealerships up with an account with First Response Finance Limited. I have grown in confidence personally and professionally, I have learnt to build relationships with a variety of people, and I have even been able to get involved in wider project work which has impacted the business as a whole. All of this, alongside a Business Management and Leadership degree, which I was able to apply my learning from to the work I was doing daily.

I found the programme difficult as I was working full-time, whilst also finding time to complete a full-time University degree, with that in mind though I did really enjoy it! I wasn't sure what route to take after Sixth Form, but now I look back I'm really glad I chose to do an apprenticeship with First Response Finance Limited. The support from both the University mentors and the work-based mentors was amazing, and my line manager has been so supportive throughout. First Response have always supported me to learn as much as I can, and it's definitely paid off! I've been promoted and I am working in a department which I love. I have been able to make a real difference to the business - that is what I have enjoyed most about the programme!

Very well organised! When going through the apprenticeship, I had a mentor based at the University and a mentor based within work. My University mentor would meet with me every time I went into University for a study block, and would even come to visit me at work if I needed it. My work-based mentor was always on hand to sit down and help me with assignments if I needed it too. Both of my mentors, along with my line manager and head of department, often used to get together to talk about my progress and what support I needed going forward. Being involved in those conversations really helped me to understand what I needed to do to improve my grades even more! It was always easy to contact my mentors too, I could call, email or drop them a text whenever I needed anything which made getting support a lot easier.

The support I received from First Response was fantastic. I had a work-based mentor who would often check in with me to talk through how I was getting on or offer any support should I need it. My line manager also understood that managing a full-time degree alongside full-time work was hard, so she was great at checking in with me to see if I needed anything from her. The biggest support I found when going through my apprenticeship was the other apprentices! At First Response, there is a team of current/ex apprentices who are all able to support you if you need it and I found this massively helpful. Especially because they understood exactly how it feels to be an apprentice (having done it themselves), it made it so much easier to ask for support or get advice on a report etc.

The lecturers at University were really helpful - due to the make up of the programme, I would often be at University for a study block (anywhere from a couple of days to a week at a time), which meant that once the study block was over, they weren't physically in front of me so I could ask questions. This was never a problem though, they always made sure we could contact them should we have any questions about the work, or need them to read through what we had written so far. This was usually over email, although they also had phone calls, Skype calls, and we even had a Whatsapp group chat with our lecturer so we could easily get in touch. Our University mentors used to visit us at work too, to support us from a University and a work perspective, which I found really useful.

I definitely think that the degree I earned on my apprenticeship has helped me get to where I am now. As part of my degree, I could choose the topic of the dissertation that I wrote in my final year. I chose Recruitment as this was an area which really interested me - a role then became available at First Response in the Recruitment department, and demonstrating my interest in this area massively helped be in getting promoted. Now I am in the role, I am using my findings from my dissertation to make real improvements to the business! I definitely think the learning I have taken from my apprenticeship has supported me in progressing at work.

I would say so! It's difficult to take too much on with how busy I was with working and completing the degree, but I definitely was able to take on more responsibility when I was ready for it. Once I was performing in my role, I then started to help out with creating training material for new starters and rolling this out across the company. I also supported other departments with projects that they needed help with. I got involved in social planning i.e. Secret Santa and organisation of the subsidised quarterly Team Nights Out (an amazing benefit of working for First Response!). I also became an editor of the Company magazine, which meant I could get involved in writing articles which the whole company would then be able to read. I know some of the other apprentices got involved in the company football team too... but that's not my thing haha!

Yes

Doing my apprenticeship at First Response was definitely the best decision I could have made! I have learnt so much, met so many amazing people, achieved a 2:1 in a Business Management and Leadership Degree (which I have absolutely no debt from), earned a really good wage throughout, had access to benefits and company bonuses, and I have been supported to further my career in an area I really want to be in. I can't speak highly enough of the company!

If you work hard, First Response will support you to get you where you want to be. When I started at this company, I couldn't have imagined that 3yrs later I would have graduated with a 2:1 and would be working in an area I really wanted to be in, recruiting people into the business and making real changes through my project work. Putting the effort in during your apprenticeship is so worth it, because it opens doors for you later on down the line! I am now working alongside Senior Managers in the company, and there are even talks around what courses I want to do next and where I want to be in the next 3yrs. If you apply yourself, it will all pay off - trust me!