WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
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If you're thinking about starting an apprenticeship, you're unsure of what your next step might be, or you simply want to hear from people who are already doing these jobs, then you're in the right place.
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:20.399
The interviewers and apprentices you'll hear throughout this podcast aren't professional broadcasters or media trained guests.
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They volunteer to take part because just like you, they want the next generation to understand the opportunities available and make informed choices about their future.
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So let's meet our guests and hear their stories on the WorkWise Apprenticeship Podcast.
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Great job!
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Thank you for listening to the WorkWise Podcast.
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I'm Freddie Barlow, and today I'm joined by Dan, the director of Mountjoy.
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Welcome along.
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How are you doing?
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Very good.
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Yeah.
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Good, good, good.
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So tell us a bit about your job and what you do.
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Yeah, so I've been uh Mount Mountjoy for 14 years.
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Um I'm a director there and one of the owners with Simon and Duncan.
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So it's been quite a journey over the last 14 years from the business when we joined it.
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Um I was the third of the the three of us to join, but we've all been there sort of a similar amount of time, and we've grown the business and really focused a lot on culture and growing people with the business and taking people along the journey.
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And so how have you found that it's changed over those 14 years?
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I mean, if you've you've been there for a long time, it must be a good company to work for, right?
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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I think that the main thing that it's a good company to work for, it shows in the fact that we've got a lot of long service with people and people like we do uh an employee survey each year.
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People talk about a kind of family feel and having that autonomy to make decisions and really see the impact that they can have on the business.
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That's what I've liked, that's what I think the rest of the sort of directors like, and that's what a lot of the people who stay with the business really like, the fact that they can have that real influence and see the business grow and flourish.
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Amazing.
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So let's get into apprentices then, right?
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So when an apprentice first walks through the door, what are you looking for from them before they've even had a chance to prove their like their technical skills, for example?
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Yeah, I I think for me, so I go around and chat to a lot of young people and speak to apprentices when they come through the door.
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A lot of it isn't about the technical skills, it's the the real basics that everyone can do.
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Do people turn up on time?
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Um do they look neat and tidy?
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You know, have they made a bit of an effort?
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And then when you first interact with them, a lot of the first questions that I'll ask is about what people know about Mountjoy in our business.
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And people who have spent a little bit of time, if young people have spent a bit of time, maybe they've seen the vans around, maybe they know what we do, they might have looked on our website, all of which is accessible to to everybody.
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If they've gone that little bit further, that really sets them apart right from the beginning, and that really gives people an edge.
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And then you think, okay, this person's really interested.
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They've actually done a bit of research, they've turned up on time, they look smart and presentable, and actually they're thinking about this as a real opportunity, and I think that can really set people apart.
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Yeah, great.
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And what would you say separates an apprentice who's you know doing all right, maybe doing okay, but from one that really stands out and makes you think, oh yeah, you know what?
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We want to keep this person, they're they're they're a keeper.
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Yeah, and I think it's it's building on the same things.
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I think with all apprentices, we understand people are going to join, they're not gonna have the technical skills.
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But if people are asking questions and not just asking questions, making notes and learning every day, so we're not the expectations at the beginning are very, you know, we know people are coming in from different backgrounds from school, from college, um, and they're coming on to to learn something new, which is why they're on an apprenticeship.
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But we really look for people to really be interested, ask lots of questions from lots of different people.
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We're a really open organization.
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They'll be learning from peers, from managers, from people in different parts of the organization, but making notes, recording that information and improving each day.
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Um and that's what really sets people apart.
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People who have got that real sort of desire and that attitude, and that can really help people grow and develop and sort of flourish in the organization.
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And so what sort of apprenticeships are available at Mountjoy?
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And and what kind of what is sort of um what can they expect to be doing on a what's a typical day for an apprentice?
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In terms of the apprenticeships we offer, we offer a wide variety.
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Obviously, we've got a lot of trade apprentices, um, so they'll be out and about doing uh carpentry, plumbing, we do sort of a property maintenance apprentice apprenticeship, which gives people a good grounding in a number of trades, and then we do the trade-specific one, so plumbing, carpentry, decorating, plastering, all those sort of skills, electricians.
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Um, and then on top of that, we also offer apprenticeships across other areas of the business.
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So we've got HR apprentices who do their CIPD qualifications, we've got finance apprentices, we've got business administration apprentices.
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So we've got a wide variety of apprentices across the business and apprentice opportunities.
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What their experiences will all be slightly different.
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Obviously, a trade apprentice will be out in the work, they'll have a mentor they'll be working with who will be a skilled tradesman with a number of years' experience, and they'll be complementing that with uh college work and really building their skills from day to day, learning on the job, starting to do hands-on work and then growing uh with confidence.
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And then when you get in the office, again, it's very similar.
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You'll have a mentor, you'll be working in a team, um, you'll complement it with college work.
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Now that might be a professional qualification or it might be a qualification through college, but you will be learning as you go along, given tasks to do, and also learn some additional tasks on the side to really build that knowledge.
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Fantastic.
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And so young people sometimes worry they'll be expected to know everything from day one.
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And obviously, as you said, you know, they'll they'll be out on the job, they'll be learning as they go.
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What do you actually expect an apprentice to know when they first start?
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So we don't we expect very little from the apprentice.
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Um, what we really expect from an apprentice is just that attitude.
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If if somebody comes in with that right attitude, is always turning up on time, always presentable, uh, is learning and asking a lot of questions and really interacting with their mentor and their manager, then that really sets people apart.
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So, in terms of the expectation, it from a technical point of view, it's very little.
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But actually, what we want is that that attitude, that right m somebody who really wants it, and that'll really set uh set that young person apart to progress forward.
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And uh you mentioned that you go out into schools and talk to young people quite readily.
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What what are their worries about uh the job market and and their worries about doing an apprenticeship?
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Yeah I think a lot of the worries about doing apprenticeship is people feel that what they're doing at a very young age is cutting off a lot of other opportunities.
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On the flip side, what they're actually doing is getting qualified in a very specific area, but a lot of apprentices are very broad.
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So even a trade apprentice, yes, you will learn a trade, you might learn carpentry or electrician, but you're also learning a lot of very transferable skills around management, around interacting with people, around communication, around customer service.
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So our trades will be out working with um residents, so members of the public, doing work for them in their property.
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So there's a lot of really transferable skills that the apprenticeship offers.
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Although what it does also is give you a clearly defined career path if you want to follow it.
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But there's also a lot of transferable skills you can use if you don't, if two or three years down the road you think actually this is not right for me.
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I think it's it sets that person apart to then apply for something different because they have seen that apprenticeship through, they've gained um a qualification, but they've also gained a lot of skills that they'll be able to apply to different roles.
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And that's one of the great things about an apprenticeship system, isn't it?
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You know, that you can have that transferable skill and and gain those qualifications.
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But what what do you gain?
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What does Mountjoy gain from developing someone rather than simply recruiting someone that's already qualified?
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So I think that the technical skills is is one part, but actually understanding the culture, um, working in the way we would like to work, all of those things about understanding how our business works is is is important.
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And we see a lot of people who have grown from being trainees and apprenticeships 15 years ago, who are now our managers and contract managers, and they really understand the business from the bottom up, how our business works.
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And a lot of businesses will be very similar, but every business is unique.
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How we operate with our systems, how we communicate, how we manage people, they've seen it firsthand, and then they then can then apply that to grow the uh future apprentices.
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So I think that's what we gain from it is we people will really understand the culture, really understand the DNA of the business and take that forward and buy into it.
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Amazing.
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And if we were to look, let's say, five, ten years into the future, what opportunities do you think there'll be for today's apprentices and how far can somebody joining you now kind of realistically progress, do you think?
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Yeah, and I think there's there's masses of opportunities.
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I think apprenticeships are a great uh way for people to get f uh first hand experience in a business, but also understand that business.
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As I said before, we've got people who joined us as trainees or or apprentices 15 years ago that we've had our own trainee scheme and they're now managers, you know, contract managers, and there might be opportunities to go even further than that.
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But there is real progression, especially if you understand how the business works from the bottom up, and then you can progress.
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And there's a lot of people who join the business and actually just want to listen in their trade, and that's fantastic.
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They work up to the top, they'll then become mentors for the next apprentices coming through and the next trainees, and they can pass on their skills that way.
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And then there's other people who really want to move into a management role and they've got that real understanding about how the business works, and they can apply that to move into management and then senior management.
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So I think the opportunities are absolutely brilliant for apprentices at the moment.
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Excellent.
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And if anyone wants to find out more about how to apply for apprenticeship, how would they do that?
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I mean, as a business, we're we're out and about, we do lots of careers fairs um right the way across the city.
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We've also got our website um and we do lots of work experience.
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So I'd say one area that people, if they're really interested in coming to work for us or interested in the industry, is if you um go on our website, you send in an email into our team and they'll get back to you.
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And you can come in and spend a week or two getting some work experience, which may some people come in and think, actually, this is great.
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I really want to do this, actually, apprenticeship in this organization is right for me.
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And other people come in thinking, actually, this is probably not right for me, which is equally good because it means actually they're thinking, right, where could I go?
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I might we were chatting to someone the other day who was on the fence about whether they wanted to be a trade or a mechanic, and they come in and they had done some work experience, some mechanics, done some work experience as a trade, and they felt actually going down the mechanic route was right for them.
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But through doing that work experience has really helped them make that decision.
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So I think that's a really good way is to come in and do work experience, but equally we're at a lot of careers fairs, and we have what we do at Careers Fairs is we'll have HR team there who can talk about how to apply, but we'll also have trade people there and other apprentices who can talk firsthand about their experience of onboarding and what that was like as an apprenticeship.
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Amazing.
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Dan, thank you so much.
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It's been really interesting chatting to you, and uh yeah, best of luck for the future.
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Yeah, thank you very much.
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Thank you.
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Great job.
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Thank you for listening to the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
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We hope you've enjoyed hearing real experiences from apprentices and employers, and that it's helped you learn more about the opportunities available through apprenticeships.
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If you have a question, you can send it directly through the platform you're listening on, and we'll make sure it reaches the right person.
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For more information about apprenticeships with Mountjoy, visit mountjoy.co.uk, or for general information about apprenticeships, visit apprenticeships.gov.uk.
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Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.359
Welcome to the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:13.439
If you're thinking about starting an apprenticeship, you're unsure of what your next step might be, or you simply want to hear from people who are already doing these jobs, then you're in the right place.
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:20.399
The interviewers and apprentices you'll hear throughout this podcast aren't professional broadcasters or media trained guests.
00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:30.559
They volunteer to take part because just like you, they want the next generation to understand the opportunities available and make informed choices about their future.
00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:36.320
So let's meet our guests and hear their stories on the WorkWise Apprenticeship Podcast.
00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.520
Great job!
00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:45.840
Thank you for listening to the WorkWise Podcast.
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:50.320
I'm Freddie Barlow, and today I'm joined by Dan, the director of Mountjoy.
00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:51.200
Welcome along.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:51.840
How are you doing?
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Very good.
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Yeah.
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Good, good, good.
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So tell us a bit about your job and what you do.
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Yeah, so I've been uh Mount Mountjoy for 14 years.
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Um I'm a director there and one of the owners with Simon and Duncan.
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So it's been quite a journey over the last 14 years from the business when we joined it.
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Um I was the third of the the three of us to join, but we've all been there sort of a similar amount of time, and we've grown the business and really focused a lot on culture and growing people with the business and taking people along the journey.
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And so how have you found that it's changed over those 14 years?
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I mean, if you've you've been there for a long time, it must be a good company to work for, right?
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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I think that the main thing that it's a good company to work for, it shows in the fact that we've got a lot of long service with people and people like we do uh an employee survey each year.
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People talk about a kind of family feel and having that autonomy to make decisions and really see the impact that they can have on the business.
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That's what I've liked, that's what I think the rest of the sort of directors like, and that's what a lot of the people who stay with the business really like, the fact that they can have that real influence and see the business grow and flourish.
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Amazing.
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So let's get into apprentices then, right?
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So when an apprentice first walks through the door, what are you looking for from them before they've even had a chance to prove their like their technical skills, for example?
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Yeah, I I think for me, so I go around and chat to a lot of young people and speak to apprentices when they come through the door.
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A lot of it isn't about the technical skills, it's the the real basics that everyone can do.
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Do people turn up on time?
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Um do they look neat and tidy?
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You know, have they made a bit of an effort?
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And then when you first interact with them, a lot of the first questions that I'll ask is about what people know about Mountjoy in our business.
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And people who have spent a little bit of time, if young people have spent a bit of time, maybe they've seen the vans around, maybe they know what we do, they might have looked on our website, all of which is accessible to to everybody.
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If they've gone that little bit further, that really sets them apart right from the beginning, and that really gives people an edge.
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And then you think, okay, this person's really interested.
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They've actually done a bit of research, they've turned up on time, they look smart and presentable, and actually they're thinking about this as a real opportunity, and I think that can really set people apart.
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Yeah, great.
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And what would you say separates an apprentice who's you know doing all right, maybe doing okay, but from one that really stands out and makes you think, oh yeah, you know what?
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We want to keep this person, they're they're they're a keeper.
00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.120
Yeah, and I think it's it's building on the same things.
00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:12.080
I think with all apprentices, we understand people are going to join, they're not gonna have the technical skills.
00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:27.439
But if people are asking questions and not just asking questions, making notes and learning every day, so we're not the expectations at the beginning are very, you know, we know people are coming in from different backgrounds from school, from college, um, and they're coming on to to learn something new, which is why they're on an apprenticeship.
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:32.159
But we really look for people to really be interested, ask lots of questions from lots of different people.
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:33.919
We're a really open organization.
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:42.479
They'll be learning from peers, from managers, from people in different parts of the organization, but making notes, recording that information and improving each day.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.479
Um and that's what really sets people apart.
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:51.599
People who have got that real sort of desire and that attitude, and that can really help people grow and develop and sort of flourish in the organization.
00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.759
And so what sort of apprenticeships are available at Mountjoy?
00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:03.120
And and what kind of what is sort of um what can they expect to be doing on a what's a typical day for an apprentice?
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.400
In terms of the apprenticeships we offer, we offer a wide variety.
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:25.360
Obviously, we've got a lot of trade apprentices, um, so they'll be out and about doing uh carpentry, plumbing, we do sort of a property maintenance apprentice apprenticeship, which gives people a good grounding in a number of trades, and then we do the trade-specific one, so plumbing, carpentry, decorating, plastering, all those sort of skills, electricians.
00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.279
Um, and then on top of that, we also offer apprenticeships across other areas of the business.
00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:37.040
So we've got HR apprentices who do their CIPD qualifications, we've got finance apprentices, we've got business administration apprentices.
00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.360
So we've got a wide variety of apprentices across the business and apprentice opportunities.
00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:43.759
What their experiences will all be slightly different.
00:04:43.839 --> 00:05:02.560
Obviously, a trade apprentice will be out in the work, they'll have a mentor they'll be working with who will be a skilled tradesman with a number of years' experience, and they'll be complementing that with uh college work and really building their skills from day to day, learning on the job, starting to do hands-on work and then growing uh with confidence.
00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.839
And then when you get in the office, again, it's very similar.
00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.920
You'll have a mentor, you'll be working in a team, um, you'll complement it with college work.
00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:20.399
Now that might be a professional qualification or it might be a qualification through college, but you will be learning as you go along, given tasks to do, and also learn some additional tasks on the side to really build that knowledge.
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:21.519
Fantastic.
00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.680
And so young people sometimes worry they'll be expected to know everything from day one.
00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:29.759
And obviously, as you said, you know, they'll they'll be out on the job, they'll be learning as they go.
00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:33.199
What do you actually expect an apprentice to know when they first start?
00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.319
So we don't we expect very little from the apprentice.
00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:40.160
Um, what we really expect from an apprentice is just that attitude.
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If if somebody comes in with that right attitude, is always turning up on time, always presentable, uh, is learning and asking a lot of questions and really interacting with their mentor and their manager, then that really sets people apart.
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So, in terms of the expectation, it from a technical point of view, it's very little.
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But actually, what we want is that that attitude, that right m somebody who really wants it, and that'll really set uh set that young person apart to progress forward.
00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:11.680
And uh you mentioned that you go out into schools and talk to young people quite readily.
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What what are their worries about uh the job market and and their worries about doing an apprenticeship?
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Yeah I think a lot of the worries about doing apprenticeship is people feel that what they're doing at a very young age is cutting off a lot of other opportunities.
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On the flip side, what they're actually doing is getting qualified in a very specific area, but a lot of apprentices are very broad.
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So even a trade apprentice, yes, you will learn a trade, you might learn carpentry or electrician, but you're also learning a lot of very transferable skills around management, around interacting with people, around communication, around customer service.
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So our trades will be out working with um residents, so members of the public, doing work for them in their property.
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So there's a lot of really transferable skills that the apprenticeship offers.
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Although what it does also is give you a clearly defined career path if you want to follow it.
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But there's also a lot of transferable skills you can use if you don't, if two or three years down the road you think actually this is not right for me.
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I think it's it sets that person apart to then apply for something different because they have seen that apprenticeship through, they've gained um a qualification, but they've also gained a lot of skills that they'll be able to apply to different roles.
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And that's one of the great things about an apprenticeship system, isn't it?
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You know, that you can have that transferable skill and and gain those qualifications.
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But what what do you gain?
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What does Mountjoy gain from developing someone rather than simply recruiting someone that's already qualified?
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So I think that the technical skills is is one part, but actually understanding the culture, um, working in the way we would like to work, all of those things about understanding how our business works is is is important.
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And we see a lot of people who have grown from being trainees and apprenticeships 15 years ago, who are now our managers and contract managers, and they really understand the business from the bottom up, how our business works.
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And a lot of businesses will be very similar, but every business is unique.
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How we operate with our systems, how we communicate, how we manage people, they've seen it firsthand, and then they then can then apply that to grow the uh future apprentices.
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So I think that's what we gain from it is we people will really understand the culture, really understand the DNA of the business and take that forward and buy into it.
00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:23.360
Amazing.
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And if we were to look, let's say, five, ten years into the future, what opportunities do you think there'll be for today's apprentices and how far can somebody joining you now kind of realistically progress, do you think?
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Yeah, and I think there's there's masses of opportunities.
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I think apprenticeships are a great uh way for people to get f uh first hand experience in a business, but also understand that business.
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As I said before, we've got people who joined us as trainees or or apprentices 15 years ago that we've had our own trainee scheme and they're now managers, you know, contract managers, and there might be opportunities to go even further than that.
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But there is real progression, especially if you understand how the business works from the bottom up, and then you can progress.
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And there's a lot of people who join the business and actually just want to listen in their trade, and that's fantastic.
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They work up to the top, they'll then become mentors for the next apprentices coming through and the next trainees, and they can pass on their skills that way.
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And then there's other people who really want to move into a management role and they've got that real understanding about how the business works, and they can apply that to move into management and then senior management.
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So I think the opportunities are absolutely brilliant for apprentices at the moment.
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Excellent.
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And if anyone wants to find out more about how to apply for apprenticeship, how would they do that?
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I mean, as a business, we're we're out and about, we do lots of careers fairs um right the way across the city.
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We've also got our website um and we do lots of work experience.
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So I'd say one area that people, if they're really interested in coming to work for us or interested in the industry, is if you um go on our website, you send in an email into our team and they'll get back to you.
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And you can come in and spend a week or two getting some work experience, which may some people come in and think, actually, this is great.
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I really want to do this, actually, apprenticeship in this organization is right for me.
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And other people come in thinking, actually, this is probably not right for me, which is equally good because it means actually they're thinking, right, where could I go?
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I might we were chatting to someone the other day who was on the fence about whether they wanted to be a trade or a mechanic, and they come in and they had done some work experience, some mechanics, done some work experience as a trade, and they felt actually going down the mechanic route was right for them.
00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:25.120
But through doing that work experience has really helped them make that decision.
00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:43.600
So I think that's a really good way is to come in and do work experience, but equally we're at a lot of careers fairs, and we have what we do at Careers Fairs is we'll have HR team there who can talk about how to apply, but we'll also have trade people there and other apprentices who can talk firsthand about their experience of onboarding and what that was like as an apprenticeship.
00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:44.480
Amazing.
00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:46.000
Dan, thank you so much.
00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.519
It's been really interesting chatting to you, and uh yeah, best of luck for the future.
00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:50.480
Yeah, thank you very much.
00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:51.360
Thank you.
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Great job.
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Thank you for listening to the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
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We hope you've enjoyed hearing real experiences from apprentices and employers, and that it's helped you learn more about the opportunities available through apprenticeships.
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If you have a question, you can send it directly through the platform you're listening on, and we'll make sure it reaches the right person.
00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:23.519
For more information about apprenticeships with Mountjoy, visit mountjoy.co.uk, or for general information about apprenticeships, visit apprenticeships.gov.uk.
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Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on the Workwise Apprenticeship Podcast.
