Madelyn's 'amazing' York College journey from student to apprentice to employee - all by the age of 19!

Having arrived at College in 2021 and enrolled on our Level 2 vocational course, Madelyn decided she wanted a change in career direction after completing her first year of studies.

She had enjoyed her time on Campus, however, and an apprenticeship vacancy with College’s HR department appealed to her as it offered an opportunity to gain an adult education while acquiring real-life work experience in familiar surroundings 10 minutes from home.

“I knew that I liked the College and there wasn’t that fear of going somewhere unknown,” Madelyn explained about her feelings when she learned her apprenticeship application had been successful. “I didn’t know the team I was going into, but I knew the place and the atmosphere. 

“Not for one second did I think the people would be horrible, because I knew what the staff were like at College and I’ve not come across anybody like that. They’re all lovely and I knew it would be a lovely, lively place to work and, to this day, I still think it’s an amazing place to work or be a student.

“I feel the main benefit of an apprenticeship is you get paid to learn and I didn’t want to travel for uni either. Some of my friends are hours away from home, but I’m still getting an adult education 10 minutes from home and have come out just as qualified as them at the end of it, but also having had two years of real-life experience in the field, which is really important going into a career.”

Despite taking a diversion on her vocational pathway, Madelyn also admits she still uses the skills acquired during her first College course – mainly for the benefit of those nearest and dearest!

 “I left Secondary School during (the) Covid (pandemic) and didn’t really know what to do, but I’d always enjoyed painting my nails, so I went for Beauty Therapy,” Madelyn recalled of her first taste of Post-16 education. “I really loved the course here, but I thought it was more of a hobby for me, rather than a career choice.

“I didn’t want to do it eight hours a day for a job. I think that would have been too much, but I still use the skills all the time at weekends and my friends obviously like that I’m available to do it for them. I don’t charge anybody, but I am qualified, so it’s always there as an option if I did want to earn some extra money.”

A common theme that linked Madelyn’s old course to her HR Support Apprenticeship was the capacity to be educated with a focus on practical methods of learning, which she feels best suits her personality and helps fulfil her potential – a factor that was evidenced when she won the Highly Commended prize for the Business, Tourism and Hospitality Student of the Year category at our REACH Awards last month. 

“With Beauty Therapy, there is an academic side to it and modules like Health and Safety, but it’s a very hands-on course, where you do practical stuff every single day,” she explained. “Coming out of that, I knew that if I wanted to get into Business Administration or HR and into working life it would have to be an apprenticeship.

“I also knew that I was best suited to a practical way of learning. I knew I wouldn’t enjoy just coming to study and sitting in a classroom every day.”

She was also quickly drawn to the variety a HR job offers and appreciated the opportunity that College handed her to implement ideas to help the team work more efficiently in certain areas.

“HR is so, so broad,” Madelyn declared. “One second you’re helping somebody with an ID badge, the next second you’re helping somebody with a sickness absence and, then, you can be doing something else completely different. It’s never boring.

"As part of the apprenticeship, I took on a project from start to finish. I involved my colleagues, but it was very much my responsibility.

“It was about references, which we previously did using a Word document, but I made a form to make it automated and we still use it in the team now. My manager has even told me that she feels staff are now more responsive to this system, because it’s only a quick form to fill in and people just answer the questions, rather than having to start from scratch themselves.

“It's speeding up our recruitment process, so it’s nice to know I’ve developed a feature as an apprentice for my apprenticeship, but it actually works for the team, too.” 

Like many apprenticeships, Madelyn used her time at work to showcase her employability aptitude, which can often lead to a full-term job and, as a permanent staff member, she is now looking to further enhance her professional development.

“It’s not been a case of one day I was an apprentice and now I’m an administrator,” she said. “It was a very smooth transition and, because I was so well prepared for my End Point Assessment, that has helped.

“I’m looking at expanding my knowledge a bit more and I’m interested in contracts, which is not part of my role, but I want to learn things outside of being an administrator, too. 

“I’ve been looking at contract variations when people change their hours, because I’m naturally interested in it, and it might be something I do in the future should the opportunity arise and I have that base knowledge. I have a better understanding now of where my role could branch off to and how I can develop in this job.”

While stressing that she learns best in practical settings, Madelyn also recognised the importance of the classroom tuition in College to address any skill gaps that were not being filled during her time in the workplace.

“My role is really heavily recruitment based,” she pointed out. “So, I had a good knowledge of that when we talked about it in class but, at College, the CPD (Continued Professional Development) department is separate to the HR team, so I wasn’t encountering it in my day-to-day working life and had to learn about it academically, whereas other people on the course had a knowledge of it from where they were working. 

“The HR manager deals a lot with the well-being of staff, too. As an apprentice, I wasn’t dealing with that, but it’s important to still learn about it, which I did during the academic tuition. The lessons make sure you have all sides covered and gain a base knowledge of everything you might need in a HR role.”

To learn more about our Level 3 Human Resources Support Apprenticeship, please click here

For a list of our latest apprenticeship vacancies, click here