Internal Communications Coordinator Review

I am the internal communications coordinator for Pearson College London. My role ensures staff from all over the college are aware of events, news and opportunities available to them. I also create and distribute assets to promote social and industry events to our students. Another aspect of my role is within the production of the Work Fitness programme, our industry-led, work-integrated learning, career development programme.

Being an apprentice forces you to become better with time management. Splitting your focus and tracking goals as you work is essential to a successful degree apprenticeship. In addition, my workplace communicative skills have developed through observing others and being placed in environments that being able to express your opinion in a digestible, concise manner is highly beneficial.

I have always enjoyed working in a team of people to accomplish a common goal and it brings me great joy that I am able to do just that on a daily basis. Working from home has been a struggle the last year and it is unfair to say that it hasn't impacted my enjoyment of the programme both from a work aspect and the degree portion. Overall though, my team is great, my work environment is supportive and I have made some life long friends through the degree.

The organisation of the programme is very well run. The training provider (PCL) specialise in running degree apprenticeships and do so with many companies. Despite the large cohort of DAs, any issue you might have as an apprentice will be handled by a department of people best suited to your needs. There is also a mentoring system in which you have quarterly meetings with the mentor and your manager to talk about career development and any troubles you may be having.

My manager and I have weekly catch-up meetings in which we talk about both business and personal life, making me feel supported throughout the apprenticeship. In addition, Pearson has a senior mentorship scheme for their DAs. Each apprentice is paired up with a senior member of the business in another part of the company and the sessions are then used to talk about career progression and develop ideas together.

There is a dedicated academic support team to aid us in assignment writing or presentation prep. They are able to help us with structuring, formatting, conciseness and referencing. In addition, module tutors are able to be contacted via email regarding module specific questions and you will usually get a reply in between 30 minutes and 4 hours.

The way my degree is structured ensures that each term I undergo a work-based assignment that directly correlates to my role. This is useful because it allows me to simultaneously progress in my degree and to improve my workplace around me. Being in a workplace teaches you so many things that you might not expect, especially in the development of soft skills.

There are professional networking opportunities and there was a football team pre-covid. However, staff members do not tend to socialise out of work hours unless it is for an event or a celebration (in that case we go to the pub!). One of my colleagues also runs a zoom yoga class now we are working from home.

Yes

I have thoroughly enjoyed my apprenticeship and the workplace is supportive, encouraging, failure, growth and development.

Get to know the company. Understand the role and how your skill set might be complementary to it. Shine in your personal statement by giving real work examples that display your skills. If invited in for an interview or testing day, be sure to talk to a few members of staff, talk to reception, and really get to know the environment (First impressions count!)