Apprenticeship Success

Mrs Fiona Price, Post-18 Co-ordinator commented “It is a fantastic achievement for Dominic and Matt to gain these excellent positions against huge competition – application rates are as high, if not higher than for places at a top university. It is our job to support students in making the right choice for the next stage of their lives and we have actively been developing their awareness of the wide range of high-quality “Learn and Earn” opportunities that are now available – university is not necessarily the right route even for the brightest students. Matt and Dominic, with the support of staff, have considered their options carefully and I am delighted that now, with the right apprenticeship and in-work training, they are looking forward to an excellent future.”

Matt has an apprenticeship with Savills and says “I started applying for apprenticeships at the start of the year, focusing on property and construction businesses such as Savills. I have always had an interest in the sector and I was able to get work experience in year 12 at an estate agent in London which helped the process.

I went through a variety of processes to get offers such as covering letters, tests, assessment centres and interviews. I was then fortunate enough to get offers from Savills for a level 6 degree apprenticeship and from Weston Homes.

I have accepted the Savills offer and will start in September in their head office in Oxford Circus depending on my A-level results.”

Dominic has apprenticeship offers with Deloitte and PwC.

Dominic says “I started applying for apprenticeships towards the end of last year around November. I had always been keen to do an apprenticeship after seeing how well my sister has done in recent years with her own apprenticeship in the Jewelling industry. However, I have been more keen to enter the financial world as one day I hope to go on and own my own business. I felt accounting would be a useful place to start in helping me achieve my end goal. Therefore, I ended up applying for the top 4 (Deloitte, PWC, EY and KPMG), after completing some work experience with CBW in the October half-term.

All application processes were similar however, I progressed furthest with Deloitte and PWC going through a multitude of different stages such as assessment centres, video interviews, job simulations and many more.

Deloitte has offered me a level 7 apprenticeship in Audit & Assurance where I will study towards becoming a qualified chartered accountant over 4 years. On the other hand, PWC has offered me a level 4 consulting apprenticeship for 2 years before I get the opportunity to join their graduate programme and study towards a level 7 chartered management consulting award for an additional 5 years. So far I have accepted the Deloitte offer which begins in September where I will work in one of their London offices dependent on whether or not I can achieve 104 UCAS points from my top 3 A-levels.