To celebrate this year’s National Apprenticeship Week, we caught up with Leyla Murtagh, an AAT Apprentice in the Not-for-Profit team at HW Fisher, on what a typical day as an apprentice looks like for her.
I like to start my working day around 9am, however HW Fisher are very flexible with their times. You can start as late as 10am and leave as early as 4pm, as long as you complete your 37.5 hours a week. I find this really comes in handy if you’re stuck on the train or running late!
If I’m not booked on a job, I like to check through my emails and make sure that everything is up to date and that I am ready to start the day. Other times, you could be in a training meeting or booked on a client job, so you’ll have some nice tasks to begin the day with.
Around 11am, I normally try to get away from the screen and grab a coffee from one of the machines. The hot drinks are lovely here so there’s no need to worry about going to Starbucks every day and wasting money on expensive coffees. After that, I speak to a manager to find out what work they need help with. We have training sessions throughout the year that are thorough and informative, so tasks are typically easy to get through without needing to ask too many questions. We’re also given training guides in case you get stuck on a particular area.
Lunchtime is always great. There are many amenities around the office and different lunch places to accommodate different tastes. In the summertime, it’s nice to walk out and sit in the square for lunch. It’s a few minutes’ walk from the office and has lovely scenery and seating areas. After lunch, I continue to finish my work and send it off to the manager for review. I also find it helpful to update my timesheet once this is complete to keep on top of the work I’ve done, to save worrying about it later in the week.
Around 4pm I usually get another hot drink and have a quick chat with a colleague. Taking short breaks between screen time is useful.
I also have meetings every few months with my skills coach at college to discuss my progress with study and exams. This is a great opportunity to see how you’re progressing. I’m doing an AAT apprenticeship, so these reviews are good to show you how much you’ve developed your skills since the last review.
Sometimes I get given tasks that I’ve not seen before in training lessons, but the team is super supportive and always goes through the instructions with me to make sure I have a clear understanding, and this helps me to get through my work more efficiently.
By 5pm, my working day is finished – although I sometimes have a couple of quick tasks that I need to complete for college before heading home. This includes updating my learning log which apprentices have to submit to their college once a month.
This is a nice way to finish the day. There are also several nearby gyms if you like to work out in the evening after work. I find it’s a nice way to destress, and there’s one opposite the nearby station which is perfect.
Interested in starting your career at HW Fisher? Check out our careers page here.
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