Why an apprenticeship could be your “best decision”

Jessica says her apprenticeship empowered her to become far more confident. She started thinking more strategically and longer term and was able to apply her learnings directly in her role. For example, the course equipped her to lead a “horizon-scanning” project for McDonald’s, combining models she’d learned into a framework that teams could use to scan the macro-environment and adjust for risks and potential opportunities. 

In short, the course did just what she’d hoped: it enabled her to grow.

“Because of that growth, I’ve now become the global supply chain digitisation manager,” she says, “where I use all my knowledge and skills to support McDonald’s markets outside the UK.”

Career-making confidence

Others have made major career moves off the back of an apprenticeship, too. Sarah Hubbard CMgr FCMI, operations manager at Oxford Sigma, is even more emphatic about the impact of hers. It taught her transferable skills that spanned the public and private sectors and helped her overcome the gaps in her CV following the career breaks she’d taken to raise her children. 

“For quite a few years before my apprenticeship, I’d been struggling to get higher-level jobs,” she explains. “If I hadn’t done the apprenticeship, I wouldn’t have got my current role. I came into the interview with a lot more confidence that I could do it.”