This National Apprenticeship Week, we’re celebrating our apprentices who work amongst our teams. As part of our commitment to continuing to make Sharp UK a great place to work, we’re dedicated to offering all our teams' training and development paths and opportunities.
National Apprenticeship Week (10-16 February) is a week-long UK celebration that champions the positive impact apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the economy. The theme this year and last is ‘Skills for Life’.
We have a learning and development teams that is made up of Simon Feilden, Learning & Development Consultant and Paul O’Hara, Sales Development Partner. Recently, they’ve been using personality profiling and internal and external training to develop our teams' skills and knowledge.
Speaking on this week, Simon Fielden said; “National Apprenticeship Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the vital role apprenticeships play in developing a skilled workforce. Apprenticeships provide individuals with valuable hands-on experience and training. The apprenticeship levy that Sharp pay into and utilise, also allows our team members to upskill in their roles. We currently have nine people utilising that levy to enhance their skills, ability and performance and support their ongoing development. By investing in apprenticeships, we’re investing in our workforce and our commitment to continuing to make Sharp a great place to work.”
We currently have eight apprentices working across our offices on various roles from Marketing to Engineers. In this blog, we hear from three of our apprentices, leaning about their roles, what made them pick their field and the challenges they face.
Luca Jaworski - Apprentice Technical Engineer based out of the London office
“I am currently studying towards my Level 4 - Cyber Engineer apprenticeship”
Phoebe Hibben – Marketing Apprentice based out of the Stockport office
“I am studying towards my Level 6 - Creative Digital Design Degree apprenticeship”
Sean Pye - Apprentice Support Analyst on the Manchester Helpdesk Team
“I am currently studying for my Level 3 - IT Information Communication Technician apprenticeship”
What made you choose an apprenticeship in this field?
Luca: I’ve always loved computers and been quite savvy with them since I was young so I knew I would enjoy working with them every day. Also, Cyber Security will always be in demand due to the ever-growing rise in cyber attacks and it is one of the only things that won’t be fully replaced with artificial intelligence meaning that I will always have strong job security.
Phoebe: Marketing offers a dynamic environment where I can blend analytical skills with being creative. Learning from experienced professionals and gaining hands-on experience in real-world projects was incredibly appealing. The fast pace of the marketing world, with its constant advancements in digital technologies and consumer behaviour, ensures that there’s always something new to learn and adapt to.
Sean: I choose this field as I always had a love for IT since I was a kid as I always loved taking apart new tech and learning new tech coming out. Doing IT support as an apprenticeship made me understand more into this field and how it would be working with new technologies.
What is your favourite thing about your apprenticeship?
Luca: My favourite thing is the method of learning. I love the combination of online weekly courses and assignments to complete on your own.
Phoebe: My favourite aspect of my apprenticeship is gaining real-world experience and developing my communication skills. I love understanding how projects start and finish within a business and being part of the design process is incredibly rewarding.
Sean: I would say the people. We have such a great team on our Helpdesk, whether it would be the Manchester or Birmingham teams, they are always very nice people to talk to and a great team to be a part of.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced whilst doing your apprenticeship and how did you overcome it?
Luca: The biggest challenge I have faced so far was managing a 1-week deadline for a 40-hour assignment whilst also working for Sharp, on-site at clients 4 days a week. I overcame it by communicating with my Digital Learning Consultant and having the deadline pushed back by one week, meaning I could do my assignment and job role to the best of my ability.
Phoebe: The biggest challenge I face is balancing my university studies with my work responsibilities. Managing both sets of deadlines can be overwhelming, especially when major projects coincide. To overcome this, I have become highly organised, ensuring that my team is aware of my university deadlines by keeping them visible in our shared calendars. This transparency allows me to complete and submit my assignments on time. Additionally, I communicate openly with my team whenever I am struggling, and they are always supportive and willing to help.
Sean: It would definitely be trying to understand all the stuff I'm being taught, whether it would be to do with servers, networking or even basic 365 knowledge. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how everything works as I had never had a job In IT before but the few things that helped me with this was my team and willing to learn all this new stuff that I’ve never heard of before.
Can you share a skill or knowledge you've gained that you think will help you in your future career with Sharp UK?
Luca: One skill I can confidently say I have gained/developed since working at Sharp is most definitely the ability to communicate with clients, team members and technical/ non-technical people. When I say the ability to communicate, I am talking about the usage of technical and non-technical terms and knowing when it would be more beneficial to ask for help rather than continuing to work alone and making little progress. This skill would help me in my future career because it is universal across all departments, industries and businesses.
Phoebe: Since starting this apprenticeship, I have gained numerous skills that have significantly improved my design work. I have become proficient in navigating and understanding all Adobe software, which has enabled me to design content for the business effectively. I am constantly learning new techniques to create engaging and innovative content using these tools which will undoubtedly benefit my future career.
Sean: Customer support, I did definitely struggle with this when I first started as I wasn’t too sure on what to say or how to advise on what’s happening but after practice of taking calls and some feedback from my team leader, I feel that I’m a lot more confident talking to clients and how to properly talk to them and help them out.
