Welcome to The ONE Group's Podcast! We believe that every professional has a great story to tell, which is why we have set up TOGCast to share successful stories and top tips on how candidates and clients got to where they are today.
Our Degree Apprentices, Andy and Becca have shared their journeys at The ONE Group and their experiences of completing a Degree Apprenticeship. They go into detail about the perks of a degree apprenticeship, how they balanced their time between working and studying and what they would recommend if you are thinking about becoming a Degree Apprentice or hiring one!
If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at marketing@theonegroup.co.uk
Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.
If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at marketing@theonegroup.co.uk
Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.
Welcome to The ONE Group's Podcast! We believe that every professional has a great story to tell, which is why we have set up TOGCast to share successful stories and top tips on how candidates and clients got to where they are today.
Our Degree Apprentices, Andy and Becca have shared their journeys at The ONE Group and their experiences of completing a Degree Apprenticeship. They go into detail about the perks of a degree apprenticeship, how they balanced their time between working and studying and what they would recommend if you are thinking about becoming a Degree Apprentice or hiring one!
If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at marketing@theonegroup.co.uk
Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.
If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at marketing@theonegroup.co.uk
Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.
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you are now tuned in to this week's
episode on Togcast it is our mission to
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[Music]
welcome to today's podcast I'm
Leanne and today I'm joined by two
special guest from The ONE Group Andy
Clark and in front of the camera for the
first time producer
Bex Hi guys thanks for joining thanks for
us Today's topic is all about degree
apprenticeship so let's get cracking
tell me about degree apprenticeships how
do they work so degree apprenticeships
there an opportunity to work in a
full-time job and study a qualification
alongside whether that's a degree or
something more specific maybe within the
career someone's already within part
of that is the Friendship Levy so a lot
of large employers already do pay into
this friendship Levy so if they bill
over 3 million I believe it is a year
they then automatically get funding for
training for those who are smaller
businesses and their bill pays under
three million they still get to be a
part of the apprenticeship training but
it's just slightly different for them so
the large businesses help fund that for
them and then they pay a different
percentage compared to the large
businesses but degree apprenticeships are for all
they're open to everyone it's not just
school leavers or graduates after say
if they want to go on do a master's it
can literally be for anyone if someone's
looking for a career change or a
different opportunity or want to further
the education for what they're currently
doing in their job anyone can do it so
no age limit no age limit oh wow I think
that's one of the common misconceptions
is that you've got to be got to have
just finished school which
potentially previously a lot of that was
the sort of natural progression route
but certainly on our course me and
Bex were the two
youngest yeah the babies the babies
we were yeah and we'd had people who'd
been in their their working life for 30
40 years and fancy doing a
qualification doing something a little
bit different so yeah no no age limit I think it's minimum of 16 but if
you're over the age of 16 it's never
never too old to to get
involved so what would you say the
benefits are to doing a degree
apprenticeship then so I guess from an
apprentice perspective it's about
learning skills that are directly
relevant to the career you want to go
down and even if you don't really know
exactly what that career is there's
still lots of apprenticeships out there
that could help guide you no matter what
career Journey you then choose you're
still going to gain those relevant
skills for any job that you go into um
and plus you're paid a salary and the
qualification is free so you end up with
no debt and you're in a full-time job
you're gaining your career skills and
then your education skills as well and
from a employer perspective for them as
suppose we say we're born and bred
togers don't we so basically as an
employer you can mould that apprentice to
be whatever you want you can make sure
they learn the skills that you need
and then they obviously bring in fresh
ideas from what they've been learning
and yeah it's just another way to bring
new skills into the workplace but also
it be moulded to what exactly you want
from them as a business so it sounds
like it's kind of the same as going to
University from the degree point of view
you're still getting everything that you
would get if you were to go to
university qualifications wise but the
bonus is at the same time you're in the
industry you're learning and you're
earning so then when you actually
graduate you're already in the career
absolutely on that piece of paper you've
still got the exact same degree as
everybody else but you've actually also
got four years worth of commercial
experience and no debt so when I when I
compare when I compare my position in
comparison to my friends we've both
got the exact same qualification um but
they're now struggling to get a job
because they don't have the commercial
experience yeah and I mean as a
recruiter personally a lot of the the
roles I recruit for they're more
interested about the commercial
experience than not as bothered about
what is on the piece of paper so
being able to actually get both um
without having any debt is is a huge
benefit so you've got the best of both
worlds basically pretty much it takes
the same time so was it a four year degree
yeah so yeah the way the way we did it
was instead of it being a three-year
course we did a four-year course so
yeah you still do the same modules it's
just spread out so we did studied one
day a week instead of full-time so
yeah it does take take an extra year
but it's it's actually a bit more
manageable spreading everything out
obviously comes with its challenges
fitting it in alongside work but yeah
I think it's I think it's a fantastic
thing to to be able to have the
commercial experience as well as the the
certificate definitely because you both
been progressing within your careers
whilst also having the apprenticeship and
you've been promoted as well within that
four years and that's someone at
University wouldn't actually have had
that and like you say people would then
graduate and have to start from the
bottom whereas you started at the bottom
and already work your way up in those
four years yeah exactly that sounds like
a no-brainer is the best yeah like you
said The Best of Both Worlds being able
to to work and study at the same time a
lot of my friends that they always say
that they wish they did what I did now
that they've seen the position that I'm
in that yeah they all they really wish
they didn't I that's the moment like
degree apprenticeships is still just so unknown
like by businesses and students like I
remember when a and I was first looking
I didn't really know that it existed new
I didn't really want to go to Just
University because I wanted to get into
work earn some money and then luckily
I just spoke to someone one day who knew
about them and guided me through that
and then I was like oh my God like this
is amazing like why isn't this promoted
in schools and you know when you come
out of education and I think people as
well obviously back in the day
friendships they were like you know go
to be an engineer or you're quite
mechanical always very hands on yeah
apprenticeships whereas nowadays yeah
it's not and every year more and more
degrees are getting released as
apprenticeships as well so yeah it's
just going to keep growing so everyone I
think just needs to know about that yeah
absolutely so what's actually involved then
from your perspective what did you have
to do you said you worked four days a
week and then one day a week was steady
yeah so in terms of the actual
application process it was the same as
applying to any other job really we
submitted our CVS spoke to to um Georgia
Talent sort of professional over here
had the interviews and then from
there we were obviously selected
which is very nice and then yeah we
we we started started working started
the degree so we' travel down to to
the campus University campus sort of
four times a year once a quarter
just so we can all meet up and sort of
speak to the tutors it's easy to ask any
questions face to face have a bit more
sort of learning face to face but the
the beauty of the degree apprenticeship
and certainly our course was that a lot
of it was remote so we we didn't have to
travel every single week for example
A lot of it was all online you followed
a set structure and yeah you work
through the program that was sort of
released to you so that's really nice
then that there is actually a cohort so
if you were a degree Apprentice on your
own within the company I mean you guys
were lucky to have each other but if you
were on your own then at least you know
that there are these other people going
through the same processes as you at
that same time and what was quite nice
about it as well because I had this
question a lot when I'd used to talk to
people about the friendship was how do
you though not get that like in
classroom interaction from that tutor
and also from your peers but actually it
was quite nice because every week you
would had like an online task to do so
you could talk with the other students
on it as well share your ideas and
thoughts on the topic and it was quite
nice as well because I don't know about
you but you got to see how it was
implemented in other businesses and not
just our own so it was really
interesting to see actually you know how
this business would do it and how that
business would do it but how we're all
learning about the same thing but how
they would implement it differently and
again I guess that adds to the skills
and experience of we have that knowledge
for future whether it being in own
company or in future careers it's very
transferable yeah we learned about
different challenges that other
organisations
sometimes we were actually able to
say well we do this that's and they were
able to take that away to their company
and vice versa we were we were learning
from each other in terms of the actual
practical side of things in the
workplace but then also in terms of the
theory we were able to help each other
out and yeah and I guess expanding on
that again that's the nice thing about
apprenticeship whereas I feel probably
if you're just at University as a
full-time student you can't take what
you've learned and implement it
practically whereas we could go off
straight away and put this into to our
jobs you'd have to wait the until you
graduate and then try and remember what
it
was something I wanted to implement yeah
but yeah all of our all of our
assignments were based on our actual
work our workplace company as a whole so
yeah everything that we were doing some
some of them includes sort of like
Financial forecasting so instead of
just having being theoretical we could
actually go and work with our finance
director and say look we need to
learn a bit more about Financial
forecasting help us out
and we were able to then learn a bit
more about our own business as well as
working I would normally go and work
with dunk for example but for yeah
for this course we we spent a couple of
days with him he told us everything we
needed to know about Excel and how
he predicts our company's yeah how
predict the revenue and yeah we were
able to then sort of learn take what
we'd learned but then actually use in
our own business which is actually
really interesting as well yeah yeah
that sound good and I think what was
quite nice I guess focusing a bit more
on the job element so how the one group
chose to do as an example was we were
brought in and then we were allowed
within our six month probation period to
actually go around like so for here it's
different divisions to kind of get to
know all parts of the business anyway
like as a career and then decide where
you want to go there they gave you a
little bit of so that was quite nice as
well I think to add on top actually it
wasn't just you're doing this job with
this great it was what would you kind of
like what takes your interest and then
let's help us Implement that I love that
approach yeah nice approach so we've
talked about the benefits then of the
degree apprenticeship but what made you
actually want to apply so I think
we're fairly similar in that neither of
us actually knew what we wanted to do
so we left College and then it was a
bit like well what's next all of our
friends or most of our friends went to
University that was sort of the route
that the colleges push you down it's
seemed that is always the route that
they want you to take when it's not
actually for everyone so I I was
lucky I was able to take a couple of
years out and sort of evaluate what I
actually wanted was still on
cheer and then started looking for
for degree apprenticeships thinking that
it's a good way of getting commercial
experience whilst also getting the
degree at the same time so that was
the the biggest draw for me was being
able to to earn and learn as they say
yeah exactly the same there yeah and
that's the thing I say I guess like you
mentioned colleges pushing University m
is the exact same experience like the
schools just want you to go that route
and like you say it isn't for everyone
and again I just don't think everyone
understands there's many other
opportunities and directions you can go
down so I just I've actually felt very
lucky that I did find that no clue
where I'd be now and especially just
having no idea about what you want to do
like as a job whereas this direction has
actually curved me to then find my love
for marketing in a job now I love um but
also then I've got those skills from my
management degree that I could carry
over into any career you know if it was
to ever change or anything I hope not
because I love marketing um but like you
say even if the career you did in the
apprenticeship isn't quite for you that's
okay because you've gained that
commercial skill you've gained the
education side of it and you can take
that anywhere with exactly and I think
if you don't know what you are
wanting to do
if you have a look at the
apprenticeships out there there's so
many different ones as you said a lot
of them are handson sort of physical
roles for example but there's not where
we did a business management degree
in a recruitment company I didn't even
know what recruitment was five years ago
I didn't know that was a thing so
yeah it certainly will help broaden your
horizons to to what else is out there
and then from there you might actually
find something that you really enjoy
like we have weren't sure this was
an actual career sort of five years
ago and then since since finding out
about the degree apprenticeship about the
one group we yeah we've both been
able to to forge a career here which is
which has been very good um but also if
you do know what you want to do but not
100% you're at University there's
probably an apprenticeship for it so
have a look see which ones are available
near you and yeah certainly
give them a consideration so yeah that's
actually a good point so if you don't
want to go to university take the plunge
on that certain career that you think
you might like if you did a degree
apprenticeship you didn't have to pay
for it then if you didn't like it after
a year or so and then you left you still
didn't have to pay back no no I mean we
yeah we had people on our cost that
they give it a year and actually it
wasn't for them but they then knew that
it was either that particular job that
they didn't like or it was actually they
just didn't want to go into higher
education again they' completely
finished with the study
so yeah it certainly gives you the
opportunity to to try something without
actually having having to commit to it
especially with the financial
commitments and full-time uni it's a
lot friends but I think as well just on
that from say if it was the job side
that they didn't enjoy but they did want
to carry on the apprenticeship you can
find another employer you can carry
that so that I feel like it's good to
keep in mind as you know it wasn't
right for you but there's plenty of
other don't have to stick it out for the
four years if you're not enjoying that
particular company okay right
interesting so did many people on your
course do that not that I actually know
of not many I think there's one or two
but yeah no overall I think we we all I
mean some people were already previously
employed by by their employer where
me and backs obviously joined the
company to do the apprenticeship
others in the class were actually
previously employed that been with the
company for years and then just fancy
doing an extra
qualification but yeah the hang there
was one or two where it just didn't
quite work out for them and yeah
they've gone on to to pastes new but
yeah we were very lucky that we were
able to see it through to the end of the
same
company and yeah still still here now
yeah so it must have been a journey then
and was this year graduation year it was
yeah we had our graduation same as same
as a normal graduation we were mixed in
with all of the so full-time students if
you like yeah um and yeah that was down
in Cambridge really really nice had
the had the ball gowns on and everything
Chuck the
Caps fantastic and I guess as well on
top of our apprenticeship so we also did
an extra part of it for the apprenticeship
which is the CMI the charted
Management Institute so we are now
qualified chartered managers as well and
so with that we had to build a portfolio
of all the work we did within our jobs
and within the education degree part and
then do a presentation on that and a
part of our degree was to do a
work-based project so we had then do it
like an interview based on that as well
so there is like extra additional things
on top of just the degree which is quite
nice as well if you did want to really
push yourself to that next level
projects okay that sounds really
exciting so did you get to pick your own
and how did you decide what to pick yeah
absolutely so we were able to pick
our own the idea of the project was
that it was directly linked to the
workplace place but other than that
we had pretty much free reign of what it
was about as long as it had some sort
of benefit to to the company yeah so
I was interested in the benefits
packages both sort of internally and
externally with the clients that we work
with so I basically did a bit of an
online questionnaire to find out what
benefits our employees like what they
value what they don't actually value as
much as we maybe think they do um
cycle to work scheme yeah it's the kind of
things like that just putting things
into a bit perspective of saying these
are the benefits that our staff actually
love let's make sure they're here to
stay and to see if there is anything
that we could potentially lose but then
also find out what they would like to be
added to the benefits package um so yeah
in the end we we found out about the
flexible working was obviously very
was very valued the commission scheme
the bonuses the trips away things like
that and then there's also some
interesting things about what people
wanted added to the benefits package
they included things like the Dental
cover A Better Private health care
System some people went a little bit
wild and was sort of saying about having
slides in the office and things like
that which were a little bit out there
but yeah on the on the whole it was
really interesting to see which which
benefits people really wanted to
stay within the business but then also
added so then I was able to present
that back um as a result we have made
changes we have changed our benefits our
healthcare provider and yeah we've
brought in a couple of other little
things and then talks are ongoing um
about some other benefits nice yeah so
mine was obviously down the marketing
route so I wanted to focus more on our
personal branding for our recruitment
Consultants it's a big thing been the
recruitment industry right now it's
about how we always say you know
Consultants their desk that they own
it's it's their own business so how can
they keep building on that getting more
further ahead than their competitors
so in the end I implemented a course
to implement them on personal branding
kind of get to know what it is and how
to go about it and then through that I
was able to track and work closely with
everyone on their LinkedIn help boost
their brands which in return for some of
them it did work they had to put the
work in um but they did see a return you
know more people trying to message them
they were like oh yeah you're the person
I've seen on LinkedIn and when they were
going out on networking things like like
that so it's just to help them become
more recognized within their sector of
what they're recruiting and yeah just
help have a bigger in return on
investment nice so with these projects
in the four years then what skills do
you think you've learned over that whole
time
Lots it really was though like I feel
like our apprenticeship the degree side
really did give you us a nice mixture of
anything business management um so like
and said earlier about like you know
learning more about the finance part of
it or like we did the HR part of it the
marketing side of it the people side so
there is lots of it and like the
people skills kind of managing people
you know for further future careers it
really does just give you a big variety
of skills especially for the degree
we chose so yeah but again you could
make that as wide of a variety or as
focus of a variety depending on what it
is you're wanting from the
apprenticeship and the apprentice as an
employer what skills do you want them to
learn MH yeah yeah no absolutely our
course was a fairly broad course so we
we learned a little bit about a variety
of different areas in all regards to
business but if you were to to focus on
a set say Finance um Finance
apprenticeship then their degree is
obviously going to be more Finance
related so it can it can vary
depending on the needs of the business
of what they're actually wanting to get
out with this person then depends on
what route The Apprentice goes down and
what skills they then gain so it can
be can be tailored regarding sort of
dependent on company
needs so what have you most enjoyed then
about the whole apprenticeship and
experience for me I think it's got to
be sort of the work side of things
like I said I didn't know what
recruitment was at the start I didn't
know what what I was getting myself in
for but actually I've really really
enjoyed it I've yeah been been able
to do well here which has been really
good and yeah I've worked with some
some fantastic companies fantastic
candidates and yeah when you are able to
to put two and two together um then is a
great feeling yeah and likewise for me
obviously I had like a bit of a journey
at the one group started off in
recruitment but found myself in
marketing again finding that career I
loved it wasn't quite right at the
beginning but obviously found my way
and obviously as an employer they were
able to give me that opportunity got my
degree alongside you know four five
years ago I was I'm not going to Union I
won't get a degree but here I am four
four years after studying but it just
yeah it feels really rewarding I think
as well because you have got that you
know commercial side of it alongside the
education side I think we feel like
ahead of the game obviously you've
earned salary you know future things
obviously accommodates that no debts um
and I think it's just the case now of
like what's next and I think it's just
really exciting and yeah I just think
it's a really great thing and everyone
should do
it you heard it here guys you
me so one last question for me then
before we go into the last task of the
day and that is what advice would you
give some when thinking about doing a
degree apprenticeship I definitely think
it's worth worth considering um 100%
like we sort of said we were both by
college we were both pushed down the the
university route which you don't have to
do if you do think there's other
opportunities there or there certainly
is other opportunities there that
should certainly be considered and
yeah we we've both gained a lot from our
apprenticeships and yeah
like I said a lot of my friends now who
did go to university wish they wish they
did what we did because yeah we've
been able to earn a salary we've got the
commercial experience which is so
valuable as well as the exact same
sort of degree on the on that piece of
paper at the end of it
and they're going to have to pay debt
for the for the rest of their not not
life for a lot of a lot of years to come
whereas yeah we're completely debt
free which which is a nice position to
be in I think one piece of advice I
would say is if you're looking for the
uni life don't do it because obviously
you don't get that aspect of it and also
although you get that 20% off the jobs
like one day a week to do your study it
does eat into a lot of your personal
life it's hard work it's a lot of work
so you've got to be committed to it but
if you can do that then you'll
absolutely fly through it and Smash It
and yeah just if you're looking for
something a bit more exciting than just
going to UNI and want to get into work
then it's the perfect opportunity for
you to go to well you definitely made it
sound very appealing something that
maybe I should have done perhaps I don't
know if it was available back then
that's what I mean it's still quite
fresh I think just to everyone I think
it might be yeah well thank you so much
for joining us today it's been really
really interesting learning all about
your journey and congratulations both of
you and yeah thank you all if you'd
like to subscribe to Togcast so you never
missed an episode please do and we look
forward to seeing you soon thanks bye
[Music]
bye that's a wrap for this week's
episode if you want to be our next guest
speaker on Top Cast then get in touch
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[Music]