How to Upskill as an Apprentice

During your apprenticeship, you will be learning constantly on the job and while at university/ college. While this learning is integral to your career development, you may want to develop your knowledge in other areas of your role that you aren’t exposed to daily. Companies may allow you to rotate around numerous teams throughout your apprenticeship course, however some may wish for you to stay in one team for the duration of your apprenticeship. In both cases, to be well rounded in your career it is good to gain knowledge and develop skills in different aspects of the business, whether that is for the new team you will rotate into or to understand the different roles you can undertake after your apprenticeship.

The first step to upskilling is to find out what you need to know. You should look at the area you are interested in and conduct research into it to determine what topics you would need to be proficient in to have a good understanding of that area. Research could involve:

• talking to other teams in your office to see what they do in their day to day jobs and what the key elements of their job are
• googling the various roles you can do with your qualification and understanding what responsibilities and tasks come with that
• reaching out to people on LinkedIn who have done similar courses to you and asking them how they gained the relevant skills for their role and what steps you could take to enter into a similar role
• attending networking events with your professional institution to find out what roles people have and discussing their career progression with them, while creating good future contacts within the industry.

The second step to upskilling is to start gaining knowledge within relevant areas. When approaching people within various teams in your company, it would be useful to ask them if they have any training courses that you could take part in or if you could review past work or documents to give yourself a general understanding of the work that is being completed, after which you could ask the team some questions to solidify your understanding. These tasks could count towards your off the job training for your apprenticeship if it is relevant. However it would be best to ask your manager if you could complete this training for your off the job records, if that is not possible it could count towards your continued professional development (CPD) which would take place outside of work hours.

Googling and signing up for relevant courses would also increase your knowledge in various aspects, there are numerous free courses online so completing them would be beneficial. By developing a good connection with someone on LinkedIn could led to you being mentored by them, this would provide you with guidance in the industry and you would be able to learn first hand from someone in a more senior position. Networking and other events put on by your professional institution are very good ways to gain knowledge from the organisation that are regulating your industry and making sure those within it are competent. They will hold workshops and lectures across many disciplines which will allow you to increase your knowledge in various departments.

The final step to upskilling is to apply the knowledge you have gained and practicing your skills. By attending workshops, entering competitions, conducting mock scenarios, which you may have to find a solution for and putting yourself forward for work in different teams, you will be applying any knowledge and skills you have developed during your upskilling. With experience in tasks that alternate roles in your industry conduct you will be able to showcase what you can do if you wish to pursue these roles in the future.