Celebrating our GC Apprentices
- Monday, February 10, 2025
- Posted By The Growth Company
The Growth Company is an award-winning apprenticeship training provider, offering a huge range of apprenticeships for people throughout all stages of their working lives, whether that’s starting a new career, upskilling, or returning to work after an employment gap.
Currently, we have 19 colleagues who are completing apprenticeship programmes alongside their roles here at the Growth Company to enhance their skills and professional development.
This National Apprenticeship Week, we’re putting the spotlight on some of these colleagues and highlighting their experiences.
Lisa Elkins, Project Co-Ordinator, Salford Employment Hub – Level 3 Business Administrator
Lisa joined us last year as an Apprentice Project Coordinator within the Salford Employment Hub. In her role, Lisa supports with administrative duties and is the first point of contact for customers at the service.
Before starting this role, Lisa had been out of work for a few years to raise her family. She visited the Salford Employment Hub to talk to the team about getting back into work and secured a role working within the Hub.
Lisa said: "It was really refreshing to experience a different approach to getting a job. Rather than just sending in your CV and going in for an interview, there’s a lot more support to give you the confidence to go back into work, and they also helped me with some other issues alongside this."
She added: "At first, I tried to just fit the apprenticeship in when I could, but when we had busy periods I would end up not looking at the work for weeks. I raised this with my managers and they helped me to block one day to concentrate on my apprenticeship each week and they've been really supportive in making sure that I am doing it and checking in with me. It has been great to work with people who are really understanding and helpful. I’ve never felt like I couldn’t ask for help and have felt comfortable since day one of the job."
Jack Higson, Quality of Education Manager – Level 4 Improvement Practitioner
Jack joined the Growth Company in 2022. His role as a Quality of Education Manager involves ensuring and enhancing the quality and standards of teaching, learning and assessment within our Education and Skills provision.
Jack was encouraged by his manager to look into opportunities to upskill and he enrolled on the Improvement Practitioner apprenticeship to enhance his knowledge of the theory and principles of change management and business improvement.
Jack said: "My manager is really keen for us to upskill in the areas that we’re interested in, so I had a look at the opportunities available and thought that improvement practitioner would be a good fit for me and my role. I’ve always been encouraged to take the time I need to do the apprenticeship, and my manager always checks in to ask me how it’s going, she also attends my review meetings to offer further support."
He added: "Because the qualification goes hand in hand with my job it means that as soon as I finish a lesson, I can immediately put it into practice. I always look forward to it as an opportunity to take a break from my job and get some new ideas. It doesn’t feel like I’m learning but I know I am because I’m constantly getting new ideas that I can immediately use."
Haeli Toprani, Strategic Insight and Policy Analyst – Level 4 Data Analyst
Haeli joined our strategy team in November 2023 after completing a master’s degree in economics. She works across a range of projects analysing internal and external data to create reports and generating insights that inform future activities. She also works on producing briefings for stakeholders.
Much of Haeli’s role involves analysis and producing data-driven insights to support strategic-decision making. Recognising the potential for professional growth, her manager encouraged her to enrol on the Data Analysis Apprenticeship towards the end of last year. This has given her an opportunity to develop her skills in the growing data analytics field.
Haeli said: "My manager is really encouraging and he’s looking forward to seeing how I can explore new ways to present data insights. I’m working on my first apprenticeship project now which is challenging me to think creatively and achieve the outputs I want, but I’m enjoying it so far and it’s a great opportunity to develop my professional abilities."
She added: "I am fortunate to work with a great team. This was my first role straight out of university, and I’ve had a lot of support from GC and the colleagues I work with - I really like that about GC."
