We’re celebrating Scottish Apprenticeship Week at Add Energy this week! We have found that supporting apprentices through their studies has brought a wealth of benefits to both our team of apprentices and our company - from upskilling our people through formal learning and development opportunities, to improving the productivity of our business functions and thus the quality of our services to our clients.

Last year, we interviewed our team of Add Energy apprentices who shared their experiences as well as the benefits of learning whilst working. One year on, Jemma Watt, Lewis Esslemont and Conor McGowan have reflected on their previous responses and offered advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship route into the workforce.

Jemma Watt completed her Modern Apprenticeship in Digital Applications Support in March 2020 and has continued at Add Energy as Operations Administrator. 

Jemma’s advice for those considering a modern apprenticeship:  

“It will get hard, stressful and you may feel you can’t do it, but you need to push past all of that to succeed. You will look back a year later and wonder why you worried at all.

“I will always recommend doing an apprenticeship. I didn’t want to go to university and instead wanted to work alongside improving my education. Doing an apprenticeship means you can have the best of both worlds.”

What was the key area of personal development that you gained from your apprenticeship experience? 

“Last year I highlighted my self-confidence as the most valuable takeaway from my apprenticeship and I would have to say that this has continued to improve over the past year.  

“I have had the chance to be involved in more client calls, be involved in moving systems, and overall been given a lot more responsibility, which proves to myself I have excelled in my work.”

How do the skills and knowledge acquired from your apprenticeship support you in your everyday role? 

“Whenever I work on presentations, for example when I lead training sessions for software packages with my global colleagues, it instantly brings back memories of a course I attended as part of my apprenticeship. During this course, we had to create a PowerPoint presentation in a group on a topic we enjoyed, while including different parts of PowerPoint I had not used before. 

“To learn and develop my presentation skills while integrating them with a subject that I was personally interested in made the learning experience much more engaging and beneficial. The combination of learning and enjoyment was one of the key reasons I felt I learned a lot through my apprenticeship.” 

Lewis Esslemont completed his Digital Application Support in April 2020 and has continued at Add Energy as Project Administrator. 

Lewis’ advice for those considering a modern apprenticeship:

“I would strongly encourage someone to take up a modern apprenticeship - not for just the tangible effect of achieving a qualification, but for the intangibles you learn from the workplace. I learned a lot just by listening to people speak, conversing, and asking questions. 

“Add Energy was also supportive in allowing me to work alongside other departments during my apprenticeship. This gave me a good base knowledge of the importance of different departments and how they all link together.”

What was the key area of personal development that you gained from your apprenticeship experience?

“After highlighting my organizational skills as a key area of development from my apprenticeship, I feel over the past year I have progressed further with my proactivity and time management skills as I have gained more experience in working towards project deadlines. 

“I have also worked more with leadership over the past year which has increased confidence and willingness to ask questions and put forward my own ideas.”

How do the skills and knowledge acquired from your apprenticeship support you in your everyday role? 

“I use skills from my apprenticeship every week when I compile project review boards for the upper management team and draw on my presentation-based learning.” 

Conor McGowan is an Engineer at Add Energy and is currently studying a Modern Apprenticeship HND in Mechanical Engineering.

Conor’s advice for those considering a modern apprenticeship: 

“For me, experiencing the work I’m learning about and being part of real-life ongoing projects is much more beneficial than learning it in a classroom environment. It has helped to be working at the same time as doing my course as there are many people who are very knowledgeable around me and always happy to help or provide advice.”

What was the key area of personal development that you gained from your apprenticeship experience?

“I have continued to build on my inventory management knowledge and have now started developing my skills in building maintenance strategies. The past year has also given me the opportunity to grow my confidence in communicating effectively and professionally with clients.”

How do the skills and knowledge acquired from your apprenticeship support you in your everyday role? 

“Juggling work and my HND course content meant I had to optimize my personal and professional workload and figure out how best to manage my time - a skill that I’m sure will continue to be useful throughout my career.”

Thank you to Jemma, Lewis and Conor for providing these valuable insights into the world of learning while you work and for giving your advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship route into the workforce.