Why I chose an Apprenticeship

DYW Orkney’s Administration Assistant, Natasha Stacey, is currently undertaking a Modern Apprenticeship (MA) in Business Administration. In this occasional series, Natasha will document the journey of her MA, starting here with how she ended up choosing the apprenticeship route.

When I was at school I had no idea what I wanted to do in life, I did not understand how a young person was supposed to decide the career they will do for the rest of their life. I never really liked the idea of going to university and as someone who left home at the age of 16; I wanted to work rather than study.

I stayed in school right until the end of S6 doing National 5 and Highers that I thought might be useful in the future. However, not knowing what I wanted to do meant that these were a waste of my time. My biggest regret was not choosing work experience, if I had chosen this in S5 I may have found what I wanted to do as a career and gained essential skills for the workplace.

I am the type of person who is very smart until you put an exam paper in front of me, so you can imagine how stressed I felt when doing my exams in the senior phase at school in subjects I didn’t really need. To add to this I was also in pain from a health condition, so sadly I failed my S6 exams and felt helpless.

After I left school I found work as a Switchboard Operator with NHS Orkney. After nine months, I moved into an office role within NHS Orkney. I worked with nine departments within the Balfour Hospital and while working with the Organisational Development Team I realised that I loved updating databases, helping organise rooms for meetings and doing admin tasks. In the office, there was someone doing a Modern Apprenticeship in Business Administration and when we spoke, I found myself really wanting to undertake one myself.

My contract was only for a year so with my new goal I set out to find a Modern Apprenticeship in Business Administration. That is when I found the post for a Modern Apprentice for Developing the Young Workforce (DYW). Even though I did not have one of the three qualifications stated in the person specification, (National 5 Business Management or Administration) I realised one of the Highers I had achieved had some of the same content as business management. I really wanted the job, so I phoned to ask if my application would be accepted, to which I was told to apply. And here I am now, starting my Modern Apprenticeship with DYW Orkney.

I hope that from doing a modern apprenticeship in business administration I will expand on my basic knowledge that I have of Microsoft Office, different technologies and how to present myself in a business environment. I want to gain new experiences and learn about what is new in technology and how I can use it to improve my work. But most of all, I want to have fun in my studies and in my job role!

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Natasha Stacey

I am the Administration Assistant for DYW Orkney and I am a Modern Apprentice.  I am currently completing my SVQ Level 2 in Business and Administration.