This National Apprenticeship Week, we’re celebrating the power of professional development by sharing the story of our Head of Technical, Emma, and her decision to take on an IT apprenticeship with Sheffield Hallam University.
Emma has been a key part of Mach Recruitment for six years, starting as a Regional Recruitment Operations Manager in 2018 before progressing to CI & Analytics Manager. Now, as our Head of Technical, she leads compliance, process improvements, and technical innovation across the business.
Keen to expand her expertise and drive even greater impact, Emma decided to take on an IT apprenticeship to deepen her knowledge. We caught up with her to learn more about her journey and how this investment in learning is shaping both her career and our business.
This year’s theme is “Skills for Life” – how have the skills you’ve gained so far shaped your career and helped you achieve your goals?
Learning different mathematical applications and programming has allowed me to think differently. I look at problems in ways I never did before. I can present the same data sets in new ways, with new visualisations and greater confidence, as well as spotting new correlations and relationships between the data. A lot has been learnt and there’s still a lot more to learn!
What’s been your proudest moment in your apprenticeship?
Achieving a distinction on 2/2 assignments – on a master’s degree!
Who has been your biggest mentor or supporter during your apprenticeship, and why?
My team – the belief in me to juggle learning and keeping up with work. They have been a big strength.
Looking forward, where do you hope the apprenticeship will take you in the next 5 years?
For me I want to pass. I want to progress, and I want to continue driving change and improvements business wide. I want to create market leading projections to allow us to operate efficiently and act proactively. I want to drive technology and automation forward supporting the business to be best in class.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start an apprenticeship?
Do it! It is hard work, but with effort and determination, you will learn new things about the subjects, and new things about yourself. Go for it!
Want to hear more from our incredible Mach apprentices? Check out their stories here.