Your Career. Our Priority.
This National Careers Week, we wanted to take the opportunity to explore starting a career through an apprenticeship. We were able to sit down with Hollie, our Accountancy and Payroll Trainer and Mentor, and talk about her own career journey.
Hollie first joined EMA in 2015 when she started her level 2 AAT apprenticeship. After completing both level 2 and 3, whilst being EMA’s Accountancy Apprentice, Hollie took a big step in her career and went into a payroll position with a different company.
Absolutely loving the team that she worked with, Hollie gained great experience and found that she really enjoyed helping other apprentices around her. This, amongst other factors, drew Hollie to the career she is now in, an Apprentice Trainer and Mentor at EMA.
Becoming an Apprentice Trainer and Mentor isn’t the stereotypical route to take after completing an apprenticeship. Hollie has some great advice and insight to starting and building a great career through an apprenticeship! Read on to hear from Hollie:
“I would recommend it 100%. Obviously for certain career paths university is necessary, but for the majority of vocational career paths, I think that apprenticeships are a fantastic alternative. I have been able to gain masses of work experience alongside a professional qualification. It’s allowed me to set myself up financially and gain lots of life and work experiences along the way.”
EMA’s Accountancy Trainer and Mentor, Hollie, Teaching
“The most important thing for me was to observe my peers and get as much advice from them as possible. I would say that a lot of the traits that I hold in the workplace I’ve taken from my colleagues over the years.
Secondly, be strict with your studies and maximise your training time as much as possible. I had to tell myself that each week, I had a certain amount of time set aside to study and stick to it. If I was too relaxed with revision, it wouldn’t get done.
Thirdly, it’s okay to make mistakes. You’re not expected to know everything or get it right the first time, just be honest if you do make mistakes and learn from them – that’s why you’re on the apprenticeship.”
Becoming an Apprentice Trainer isn’t the stereotypical route to take after an apprenticeship, was there anything in particular that pushed you towards this decision?
“During my time at Pendragon, I soon realised that I missed the variety of my job as a trainer and the satisfaction it provided me, seeing my apprentices succeed and progress in their own careers. I was still in contact with Tracey at EMA, and we got talking about a new role she was recruiting for and I decided to go for it.”
A big takeaway from Hollie’s own career journey is to take the opportunities offered to you, you never know where it can lead you and the great experiences you will gain on the way!
If you would like to know more about starting your career through an apprenticeship, please get in contact with one of the EMA team! Our details are on our website or you can head over to our social media platforms and contact us through there.
If you’re an EMA apprentice and you would like to hear more about Hollie’s career journey, then head over to the EMAzing Culture Hub to listen to our most recent podcast!
