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Apprenticeships are a fantastic choice for learners who want a hands-on learning experience. Joyce Pemberton, one of our apprenticeship tutors, believes that apprenticeships can provide a learner with excellent career progression opportunities.
Joyce began her career in banking and worked for Barclays for 22 years. She was a customer advisor when she first joined, and then went into a leadership position for ten years.
After joining the training and development team, Barclays decided to bring apprenticeships in-house, with Joyce securing a role on this team for two years. However, the company then decided to remove apprenticeships, which made Joyce redundant. She then began her journey at Workpays and has been with us for four years.
She said: ‘’I really enjoyed teaching on apprenticeships and didn’t want it to end. When I left school, I had no idea what I wanted to do - I did hairdressing, beauty therapy, and even worked in a nursing home. Working in a bank was never the plan, it was just the path I decided to take.’’
Joyce stated that she always knew she had a passion for teaching, she just didn’t know what it was she wanted to teach.
She said: ‘’I soon realised that I wanted to teach financial service skills to individuals, which is why I enjoy working with the Co-operative Bank.
I now teach Level 2 and 3 Financial Services, Level 3 Mortage Advisor, Level 3 Business Analyst, and Level 3 Team Leader apprenticeships.’’
Workpays go out to colleges and schools, recruit directly for the Co-operative Bank, and put our apprenticeship opportunities to existing staff. The team leader programme is especially popular with existing staff, as 36 are currently interested in enrolling.
She stated: ‘’The team leader programme is a great way to upskill existing staff and therefore helps to retain talented employees. As long as management is happy, we will enrol the individual.’’
There is currently a 100% kept-on rate for apprenticeships within the Co-operative Bank, with all learners having a secure job or having moved roles into a different department. Joyce believes apprenticeships are a great choice on anyone's career journey.
She stated: ‘’On an apprenticeship, you gain the knowledge and skills needed for successful career progression. When a business needs more leaders, individuals are able to step into management and learn vital transferable skills.
‘’The team offer support wherever needed, so we have a 95% success rate at Distinction and a 5% success rate at Pass level.
‘’I would highly recommend an apprenticeship to anyone looking for a successful career.’’
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