At the Local Government Apprentice of the Year event, there are a few of different awards on offer to apprentices. These include Apprentice of the Year and the social media winner. However, the judges are not just looking at each apprentice individually but are also assessing how well individuals are working together in order to award their ‘best overall team’.
Apprenticeships combine a blend of on-the-job training and theoretical learning. This
enables apprentices to gain both technical and transferable skills. Key competencies that can be learnt include interpersonal skills, teamwork and self motivation. One of the
benefits of the Local Government Apprentice of the Year event is that it provides a great
development opportunity for the apprentices to use skills learnt during their apprenticeship within a different setting from their day-to-day environment.
Caroline Davies, Corporate Apprentice & Trainee Scheme Manager from Cardiff Council said,
“We put apprentices forward for the event as a development opportunity for apprentices to enhance their skills and build professional connections with other
local government apprentices around the UK”Caroline Davies, Cardiff Council
Thanks to this keen support from the council, Kian Lewis, a Level 2 Digital Application
Support Diploma apprentice at Cardiff Council, put himself forward to take part
Throughout the event, Kian embraced all the opportunities for development. When it came
to developing his interpersonal skills, Kian took full advantage of the networking opportunities, including the ice-breaker session which enabled him to get to know other apprentices and hear about their experiences.
Kian also took the opportunity to enhance his teamworking skills by collaborating with his peers to make sure that everyone had a chance to contribute ideas and share their knowledge. Despite the topic of ‘housing’ being a subject area that he was less familiar with, he didn’t let this deter him and by the end of the event reflected on how interesting he found
researching it and learning from others.
“It is a fun and interactive event to show yourself off with all of your skills and knowledge and a great way to meet other people in the same boat as you”Kian Lewis, Cardiff Council
Kian’s commitment during the event paid off, as he was later announced as part of the winning team. Following the event, Kian has reflected on how valuable attending the event has been for him and how it is something that he can now showcase on his CV. Kian also shared that his attendance at the event not only helped him to strengthen the skills learnt during his apprenticeship and meet new people, he also learnt a valuable life skill that it is ok to make mistakes and the importance of learning from them. A wise and invaluable piece of knowledge that will support him as he now decides what the next step in career will be.
in the event as he also recognised it is an ideal opportunity for his development. With only
three months left of his apprenticeship, Kian saw the event as a chance to not only take part in something that he had never done before but to also meet new people.