My Apprenticeship Experience at the Ministry of Defence - Katie, HR Apprentice

For this week’s National Apprenticeship week, Katie tells us about her experience joining the Ministry of Defence as an apprentice.

How long have you been a Civil Servant?

I joined the Civil Service as a HR Apprentice in January 2020.

What attracted you to the MOD and why did you choose the apprenticeship route into the organisation?

The learning and development opportunities across MOD had always interested me and when I saw a HR vacancy being advertised with a chance to achieve my CIPD accreditation, I had to go for it. I had always wanted to start a career in HR and thought applying for a role with an Apprenticeship would be an excellent starting point to help me to explore HR subjects and start a development journey.

Can you tell me about your apprenticeship experience?

I completed the Level 3 HR Apprenticeship which took around 18 months. The programme was a mixture of on and off the job training, combined with online learning and assignment work. My Apprenticeship covered a range of topics, some which I had more experience in than others. I learnt a lot and challenged myself in areas I was less confident in such as data – and now I work with data every day!

In early 2022 I was lucky enough to be nominated in the first Whole Force Army Apprenticeship Awards and later in March 2022 I went on to win the award! It was really nice to be recognised for developing my skills, knowledge, and behaviours during my apprenticeship and implementing these into my day-to-day work.

The whole experience for me was positive. Apprenticeships are perfect for upskilling and also for getting the accreditation in your line of work too.

How has your apprenticeship helped your career journey so far?

When I joined my team in January 2020, I was part of the Engagement and Health and Wellbeing team which I really enjoyed. This enabled me to build trusting relationships with stakeholders and learn about different parts of the wider Army Civil Service. This role supported my HR Apprenticeship; I focussed my end point assessment on absence data which enabled me to get stuck into data driven tasks within this area.

I always knew I wanted to progress within the team and look at different aspects of HR. I was temporarily promoted into the next grade and spent 6 months exploring recruitment and resourcing – I really enjoyed this and at the end of the 6 months I applied for the permanent role and was successful!

Would you encourage others to complete an apprenticeship, and any advice you would give to someone considering an MOD apprenticeship?

Absolutely! Apprenticeships open the opportunity to explore different areas of work and delve deeper into your specialist subject. For me, it also really helped me to gain confidence as well. I’d say Do it! Take the opportunities where you can and invest time into building your career.