It’s National Apprenticeship Week (5-11 February), which aims to raise awareness of the many benefits apprenticeships can offer.
Not all individuals are suited to book learning and gain from the applied learning an apprenticeship can offer, giving them the opportunity to apply the skills they learn doing a job to their studies and visa-versa. As an aside, starting your career as an apprentice and learning on the job means by the time you qualify you don’t have the debt that your university counterparts are likely to have – clearly a very attractive proposition for school leavers, along with the fact we fully fund their study.
A few members of our senior team started their career with Randall & Payne as apprentices which is proof of what can be achieved.
One of those being Shaun Pegler, who became a Partner last summer overseeing our Accounts team, and joined the firm in 2004 following work experience the year before. His brother had also previously been employed as an apprentice, so Shaun had seen the benefits and was attracted by being able to earn while you learn.
Shaun says “Randall & Payne have looked after me for 20 years now. I’ve loved every minute of my time here and I enjoy giving back to the new trainees and helping develop them and meeting their personal goals.
I love the daily contact with different people, in different sectors, and helping them reach their full potential. Although people think it may be a boring or dull job, it’s so people focused, and no two days are the same for me.”
Several other members of our Senior team started as apprentices and have successfully studied and worked their way to leadership positions, even our Managing Partner, Tim Watkins, started with us straight from school as a trainee. Below are just two more experiences where learning on the job has led to positive career progression.
Ollie Newbold, Corporate Finance Partner, began his career as an apprentice with Randall & Payne. He says “An apprenticeship provides a fantastic opportunity to earn and learn. University is not for everyone, it was not for me, and an apprenticeship provides an alternative route for those that are looking to develop a successful career. Randall & Payne wholeheartedly embrace apprenticeships as they represent a successful outcome for both the apprentice and the firm”.
Promoted to Audit Director last year, Ben Burch, started as an apprentice eleven years ago. Ben felt supported through his studies with his colleagues on hand to help as needed and with consideration given to his workload, giving him the best chance of succeeding. Specialising in audit brought with it many opportunities and he rose through the ranks taking on more responsibility each time, from managing a client portfolio, to line management and later the strategic direction of the team.
Visit our Apprentices and Graduates page, email careers@randall-payne.co.uk or call 01242 776000 if you would like to find out more about apprenticeships and trainee opportunities at Randall & Payne.
