Foot on the Ladder

What does UCAS do? Most assume its ONLY University -- this is changing. Their service is ever expanding to now attempt to offer parity to all those seeking further education by putting Apprenticeships front and center.This episode, I speak to Pete Milsom, the Partnerships Manager at UCAS. We talk what are the big changes they are making, why are they getting involved in the game (a big part stems from having all those prospective undergraduates!). We also talk about his career originally as a assessor for apprentices and what it was like moving through the change that was ditching "Frameworks" for the newer more formal system.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

Elijah Olanipekun is a Digital Technologies apprentice at Salesforce, based in London. He works towards the end of the sales process integrating the demands of the client into a final solution.In this episode Elijah shares his experience of founding the Black Apprentice Network with two others and the reason he is advocating for getting more Black Apprentices into the wider apprenticeship eco-system.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

What exactly does a UI/UX Designer do? This episode explores the role of Diparati Sen, a UI/UX designer at a fintech startup. We explore what that means, how you find pain points and smooth out processes!Another major part of Diparati's story is moving half-way across the world from India to retrain from being a software engineer at Cisco, to retraining in Bath, England doing an MSc in Computer-Human Interaction. Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

Lucy Carder is a recruiter at Tech Firm Cognizant, but in a past life a HR professional and recruitment team member at TFL!We talk how you find what you want to do (she didn't when she first left school), what TFL looked out for during recruitment, how she's now recruiting in a different area (non-graduate/apprentice) at Cognizant and some of the best learning experiences from her own time as an Apprentice.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

Apprenticeships are not new, but the modern apprenticeship in the UK has only existed since 2015 and comparisons are often made that the experience is not the same as going to Uni. The Association of Apprentices (AoA) is striking to change that by connecting Apprentices up and down the UK!Emily Austin is the CEO of the AoA and in this episode we talk about the goal of the association, some of the upcoming changes. In a former life, she was also worked at Lloyds TSB during the financial crisis and had to deal with the onslaught of two large companies colliding. We also talk about her work with the St Martin's Group, a think-tank in the careers space.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

As part of the ongoing BBC Apprentice Series, Vishal Karri, a Software Engineering Apprentice spills the beans!He talks to me about his portfolio, working with the open University and how he only just scrapped through the interview with the wrong coding language!Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

What does it mean to be a Cyber Security Apprentice? Tamzin Greenfield explains just that and more! She shines a light on the skills involved in her day job and what university has prepared her with.We discuss motivation and how originally she didn't see herself in tech, and that Ben Wishaw had something to do with it? She is also the re-launcher of Cheltenham B-Sides, an "entry-level" cyber security festival in ... Cheltenham.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net

What is marketing and how do you market apprenticeships?Lily is a Marketing Officer at Crosby, a training provider based in the West Midlands. We speak about what its like in a multi-skilled role, how you advertize early careers to people, her apprenticeship journey and a little bit on why Crosby choses the colour blue!Lily is also a member of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education Apprentice Panel (alongside me!) -- we chat about some surprises from being on the panel and how it has helped her understand the landscape more.Website: footontheladderpodcast.comInstagram: @ontheladderpodHarvey Church's Links: links.hchurch.net