I’m a Degree Apprentice at Cisco Systems. It's a good mix of work and study and the latter part is a Computer Science degree, so I’ll get a BSC. All the modules are like a typical Computer Science degree, but I’m working for a local business at the same time and getting the kind of experience I’ve always wanted.
I think I’ve always been hands on and practical. I consider myself aware of the local employment landscape and knew that Cisco ticked all those boxes. And with the way the degree was structured, I'm able to be in the office and meet people face to face. That was important for me. And the Uni I'm partnered with is BPP – an online Uni – is connected to Warwick, Manchester and the Open University, so I feel I’m continuing to get a quality education and a great start to my career.
But I’ve always had a real hunger for my future employment, and I was looking for work experience from around Years Nine and Ten! Even as a young person I think it’s so important to get work experience. I feel like it still lies on the individual to actively seek out and research companies even though the school is there to provide support. Luckily in my case, I went to Logic, and we had a dedicated careers lead, so I was lucky in the way that these opportunities were always filtered through my school for us to consider.
It also helped that they were so career focused. We used to have people from local businesses giving us mock interviews which was obviously valuable. I was learning to build my own CV by Year 11 and for me, it’s good to develop a positive career orientated mindset early on.
The Feltham Convening Group were also really important for me too and I had my first taste of work experience with them, and then two weeks at Ernst and Young followed, so I had reference points when I was eventually interviewed for the position at Cisco. PWC was another potential opportunity.
It’s important that young people know that these opportunities exist, so my advice would be to be proactive and seek them out - don’t wait until they come to you.
I’ve always had the drive to contact companies for opportunities. They will talk about CV’s and building your portfolio but it's harder to get the experience when, for example, you're trying to go for a part time job, because they often require it.
The Youth Skills and Employment Guarantee should signpost young people to specific events like job fairs where degrees like mine are promoted and it’d be useful to see different routes to employment mapped out.
