Georgia is now employed by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and Care Inspectorate in our shared Human Resources Team as an HR Assistant. She joined the team in 2020 as a Modern Apprentice in Business and Administration.
Why did you choose a modern apprenticeship?
Before coming to the SSSC and Care Inspectorate, my work experience had been mainly in hospitality roles. As a young mum, I was trying to decide whether I should return to studies following maternity leave or put my studies on pause to work full time.
When the opportunity came up for the modern apprenticeship, I hadn’t really heard of the scheme before and felt it was exactly what I needed at the time.
Becoming a modern apprentice meant that I would be able to work full time and gain a qualification at the same time. More importantly to me, I would be able to gain work experience in the field I wanted to work in before my qualification would be complete.
What has your experience been?
My interview was my first insight into a public sector role and competency based interview. I remember being nervous, but the interview panel took time to provide information on the organisations and the role before my interview started. Although I had researched, I hadn’t been involved with the organisations before, or ever worked in the public sector.
My induction programme was carried out mainly by my line manager who gave an overview of the structure of the organisation and covered the basics on what each area does. I started with another apprentice, so I was able to have peer support, and we were introduced to the wider HR team and had different sessions with the various team members to learn more about the work they do.
We were each assigned a mentor from within the team, one of which had been an apprentice themselves in the past. They caught up with us regularly on the work we were doing and offered support in both a holistic sense and also to help us learn various aspects of the role. I would often meet as a group with both the mentors and the other apprentice to discuss things we had learned or to catch up. Along with having my line manager, this meant there was a really good amount of support at peer level too.
How relevant is the qualification requirements to the work you are doing?
Once I had been settled for a few weeks in the organisation, I met with the training provider representative from Quest, who gave me a separate induction regarding the qualification I was undertaking as part of my apprenticeship. Most of my assessments were submitted through an online portal that included details of the work I was doing on a day-to-day basis. I met with the training provider about once a month to catch up on my progress, he would then give advice on the next module to take forward and provide support for any questions I had on how to complete the required tasks. The training provider also linked in with my manager on occasions throughout the year to discuss progress.
What words of advice would you give to someone considering an apprenticeship?
Go for it. It’s really a great opportunity and gave me the best start in my career.
The work I did in my role as a modern apprentice was varied and gave me a great deal of experience to build upon. I also really valued the flexibility around getting the qualification work done. I had support when I needed it and was able to complete the SVQ within the year contract.
I was able to have open conversations with my manager about progression routes and was able to successfully apply for a temporary contract at a higher grade which started after the end of my modern apprenticeship.
I ended up progressing and leaving the organisation for around seven months and returned when a permanent vacancy came up. My experience at the SSSC and Care Inspectorate as a modern apprentice was one of the main reasons, I knew I wanted to come back to the organisation, and I would love to be a part of getting new apprentices to feel the same way.
Supporting our young workforce.
We are proud to support great career opportunities for young people at the SSSC. You can hear from Georgia and some of our other younger staff about the roles they do, their career paths so far and their insights into what it’s like to work for us in this short video.
We also recently achieved the Silver Investors in Young People award. This award recognises our commitment and investment in our young people and the values that drive us to make sure social work, social care and children and young people services across Scotland are provided by a trusted, skilled, confident and valued workforce.