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National Apprenticeship Week 2025 – Life Beyond Apprenticeships
Meet Emily.
Trainee Training Co-Ordinator
“I am now a Trainee Training Co-ordinator in this role and I am responsible for ensuring our internal staff have the correct training within their primary roles and identifying training needs”
This week is National Apprenticeship Week, a week-long celebration that brings together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy. Completing an apprenticeship is a fantastic achievement and with hard work and commitment you could land yourself a great career. We look at some of our employees who started their career as apprentices, what it taught them and where they are today. We spoke with Emily Branthwaite to talk about her apprenticeship experience and see where it took her.
What was your apprenticeship in?
I Studied a Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship. It was an 18-month apprenticeship with Gen2, we were in college once a fortnight to study the principles of business admin and put them into practice in the workplace with my employer Shepley Engineers.
What made you choose an apprenticeship?
I always knew I wanted to do an apprenticeship but was never sure what in as being a wheelchair user, it can be difficult to find apprenticeships. The school I attended had a lesson called employer project, my group was with Shepley’s and after speaking to the people there they helped me decide what was going to be the best fitting apprenticeship for me.
What do you do now your apprenticeship is complete?
I am now a Trainee Training Co-ordinator in this role and I am responsible for ensuring our internal staff have the correct training within their primary roles and identifying training needs, preparing training materials for upcoming courses. I am really enjoying my role as I am always learning something new every day.
How did your apprenticeship help you?
My apprenticeship helped me gain skills I didn’t have before, and knowledge which I now still use in my job role. When going from college back into work, it made me feel more confident in myself and the work I was producing because of the lessons we had I was able to use what I learnt over the course of time as an apprentice.
What would you say to anybody considering an apprenticeship?
I would recommend an apprenticeship to anyone that is wanting to gain experience in a specific field I believe this is the best way to do so. Having classroom sessions and working creates a good balance and helps broaden your knowledge, it also helps open so many other career opportunities that you may not have known were available to you.