L&D Specialist Review

As an L&D Specialist, I train & coach people in the business - from new starters learning their new job roles, to existing employees looking to improve or learn new skills. I also ensure training material is up to date and still relevant, write new workshops and evaluate effectiveness of the learning through online surveys and face to face meetings with stakeholders.

I have learnt about the role of the L&D department within the business, in particular the long term L&D strategy & how that fits within the business strategy. I am completing my functional skills so will have my level 2 in maths, which I did not get at GCSE stage. I am attending monthly workshops with Bepro to learn more about the L&D department.

The programme is thought provoking, I am finding it very useful. I have been training for 4 years before applying for this apprenticeship, I applied because I want to have the qualification to back up the experience. I am enjoying working on the assignments and sharing what I have learnt with my team.

The induction was completed face to face with my skills coach, he showed me how the systems work and explained expectations of the apprenticeship. I attend monthly workshops to learn about a new aspect of L&D, I study off the back of these workshops and complete an assignment that is submitted before the next workshop. I have regular catch ups with my skills coach too.

My manager is really great at helping me to organise my time and prioritise. He is also very supportive with the maths functional skills course, I don't enjoy it so I put it off, and he encourages me to do it . We discuss my progress in each one to one meeting

I have a catch up with my skills coach every 6 weeks, she sets me tasks to help me work towards my qualification. She checks my progress and makes sure my timesheet is on target. When attending the monthly workshops the trainer checks our progress to make sure we are all on target.

It has helped me to understand what I do, and why I do it. I have been training for 4 years but I'm pretty much self taught, so learning the theory behind L&D practices and being able to put them into practice straight away is really useful. Having the qualification at the end will also help me to build credibility, and will ultimately help me when looking for a new role

There are loads! I am part of a photography group an we have regular meet ups, there is also a hiking group who get out monthly. I hear of others playing football on a regular basis, we also have an "end of peak" party in the late summer, a Christmas social, a "kick-off" event in early January and regular business updates where we get together at the Manchester Conference Centre to learn what has happened.

Yes

Its a really great place to work! I have wanted to get a CIPD qualification for as long as I've been training and I was looking at funding it myself, so when I was offered this apprenticeship I jumped at it. The socials are amazing, the kick-off event this year was in Amsterdam so we were loaded into a chartered jet and flown across. There is a huge amount of development opportunities, I have worked here for a year and a half and there have been three promotion opportunities in that short time.

Be yourself! We don't employ robots, we employ people with personality and big ideas. If you are hard working, always looking to improve and develop then this is the place for you. Research the values too, they tell you everything about us as a business and how we like to work :)