Business administration apprentice is absolutely creative

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Published on Thursday, 26 January 2012 09:26

Tuesday 7th February, Gloucestershire College Gloucester Campus, 7.30am

To mark National Apprenticeship Week 2012, the Gloucestershire College Business Hub is hosting an apprenticeship focused Business Hub Breakfast for small businesses on Tuesday 7th February.

Chris Nyland, Director at Absolute Creative, a company specialising in design, print, marketing and websites in Gloucester City Centre, attended a similar apprenticeship focused Business Breakfast at Gloucestershire College last year and has since recruited the company’s first apprentice; Level 2 Business Administration Apprentice, Laura Wareing.

Chris explained; "After opening Absolute Creative in 2007 with my business partner Dan Whitelock, we had experienced steady growth and were looking to expand. In May 2010, with new premises and a newly purchased printing.com franchise arm of the business, we decided we had both the space and the workload to warrant an additional team member."

"The event run by the GC Business Hub was especially good as current apprentices gave their view. I was impressed with the apprentices who spoke with enthusiasm about their roles, and the event convinced me that we would benefit from recruiting an apprentice. We wanted to give a young person a good start in their career, but essentially an apprentice also made sound financial sense for us."

"Laura joined us in October 2010 and 4 months later she is a key part of our team, getting involved in all aspects of running the business. Laura’s confidence has already grown dramatically in the short time she has been with us. I would absolutely recommend recruiting an apprentice, having Laura around has freed up other team members to work on larger scale projects and has had a positive impact on our productivity."

Laura, a former Ribston Hall High School A Level pupil, decided to apply for apprenticeships through Gloucestershire College after deciding against higher education to avoid university debt.

"I’m really enjoying my apprenticeship so far" said Laura, "the first 4 months have been a learning curve! I have learnt loads about the business and am responsible for front of house as well as certain elements of client liaison, website updates and book-keeping. I have also been involved in setting up the brand new ‘Four Gates of Gloucester’ magazine; a free, self-funded and not-for-profit publication to share news about and around the City of Gloucester."

Sarah Hancock, GC Business Hub Business Development Manager said, "We are continually looking at ways we can support SMEs in Gloucestershire in recruiting an apprentice. Our informal Business Hub Breakfast will not only provide business owners with information on recruiting apprentices, but will hopefully provide a valuable opportunity to speak to others in a similar position too."

If you would like to attend the FREE GC Business Hub Breakfast on Tuesday 7th February and hear from Chris and Laura for yourself, please RSVP to JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING   by Thursday 2nd February. Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.