“To progress in your career, a management apprenticeship is the best way forward”

She started a Team Leader management apprenticeship in 2022, studying for a Level 3 Certificate in Principles of Management and Leadership, post-Covid and post-maternity leave. She says it was a tough time for her, as she was battling post-natal depression and anxiety, while it was also a period of change at Hargreaves Lansdown. But despite the challenges, she was determined in her belief that she wanted to progress in her career, as well as being a working mother. Then her manager mentioned an upcoming talk about apprenticeships, so Laura went along. 

“It was quite daunting just going along to the meeting,” she recalls. “I felt like I’d been through a lot, but I wanted to see how far I could go. And when I sat and listened to what they were saying, I thought, yes, this is for me. They spoke about what it entailed and about CMI – how it works and how it offers a true, external, objective source of information about management.”

So how was it? “Hard! Really hard,” Laura says. “My son had started at nursery and, as any parent would tell you, it’s a time of constant illness. Coughs, sneezes, you name it. And the sleepless nights! I remember sleeping on the floor at some points. So I was back at work, doing extra study and also coping with a young child. So I was juggling a lot.”

Returning to learning after a decade

Laura says the support she got from work, and from training provider Activate Learning, based in Oxford, helped her get through that difficult period.