This week (Monday, 6 to Sunday, 12 February) is National Apprenticeship Week, and this year’s theme is ‘Skills for Life’.
At believe housing, we know that nurturing new talent and providing them with the skills they need is fundamental to our long-term success.
We regularly recruit apprentices to join the believe housing team, and many have gone on to build successful careers in their chosen fields and secured permanent employment with believe housing.
Most recently, we took on 12 new apprentices to our Property Repairs Team in September 2022.
To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we caught up with three of them to find out how they feel about their new roles with nearly six months’ experience under their toolbelts.
Apprentice gas engineer, Nattaya Malcolm, said: “It’s not your stereotypical job. It’s better than being in the classroom 24/7. You’re out on-site, meeting new faces all the time. It makes you feel proud of yourself that you’re able to do something whilst you’re learning as well.”
And electrical apprentice, Ben Dixon, also preferred the hands-on experience that an apprenticeship provides: “I didn’t want to do more years of theory. I’d rather get paid to learn. The work flies over.”
Electrical apprentice, Charlie Wainwright, agreed saying: “You’re just on-site constantly, learning new things every day. You learn all sorts of stuff. It’s class.”
As for their future aspirations, all three said they hoped to get a permanent job working with believe housing once they’d completed their apprenticeship.
Summing up their hopes, Charlie said he wanted to: “Get fully qualified, get took on, then the world’s my oyster from there really.”
And, when asked if they would recommend an apprenticeship to other people, they agreed unanimously. Ben said: “I’d say do it.” Nattaya said: “Hundred percent, go for it.” And Charlie said: “It’s probably the best thing that I could recommend doing.”
As part of National Apprenticeship Week, believe housing will be one of 60 exhibitors at ‘The Big Apprenticeship Event’ at Hartlepool College on Thursday, 9 February, from 5pm to 9pm.
And you can find out more on our website about believe housing’s apprenticeships.
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