I joined SES Engineering Services in October 2018 on an 18 month Business Admin apprenticeship at York Community Stadium through EN:Able Futures, who are part of Efficiency North.
Before this, I never really had a solid idea of what I wanted to do with my life: but does anyone? I knew I wanted an apprenticeship but that’s about it. I certainly had never considered working in the construction industry before, never mind on a live site. I previously worked in a call centre full time and before that I was working part time alongside college and university.
I was really struggling to find something that I both wanted to do and that made logical sense for the next steps of my career. When I applied for the Business Admin apprenticeship, I was kind of in a grey area, I didn’t know which company or what type of workplace I would end up in, but I had a feeling I had the skills for the role. The idea of a new industry made me worry about what my day to day tasks would be and if I’d excel, but I ended up pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
The site team have been great, fully supporting me and giving me experience in lots of different areas such as health and safety paperwork, toolbox talks, site inductions, scheduling workface availability, and document control to name a few.
I really enjoy learning about how a site ‘works’ and all the different trades involved. I also love the working environment on site; it suits me much better than being stuck in a call centre! Once my apprenticeship is complete I definitely want to continue working in the construction industry, perhaps exploring different roles.
If it wasn’t for EN:Able Futures, SES Engineering Services, and everyone I work alongside I wouldn’t have found my chosen career path. I would wholly recommend companies to consider shared apprentice schemes like this as they offer valuable skills and experiences for young people. I’d also recommend it to any young person looking build their future.
Words from SES on Amy’s performance:
“Amy has become a valued member of the site team and is gaining confidence every week. She is involved with making sure our works on this large construction site run smoothly and helps keep us organised. She is experiencing different areas of the business such as planning, health & safety and document control. Amy is building up great knowledge of our industry and it is great to see such enthusiasm.”