Leaving school can often be a strange experience for young people, this experience can be even stranger in the midst of a pandemic.
I finished school early due to COVID-19, and I was in an immense period of uncertainty in my life. While most of my friends had already sorted out their university plans, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do after graduation.
Figuring out my next move
Meanwhile, I worked part-time at a pub. I learned how to be a team player and work alongside others. I acquired transferable skills such as communication, teamwork and customer service. At the time, I didn’t realize just how valuable these skills would be in my future.
The job search experience
After graduation, I spent a year applying for apprenticeships and opportunities with various providers. None of them came to fruition until I applied for an apprenticeship on the Multiverse Admissions team. I remember feeling confident and motivated to land the role, and turns out, some things are just meant to be.
Starting my first professional role
At first, my apprenticeship with Multiverse felt like a seismic shift in my life. I was in a completely new environment—the professional working world. Compared to school, it was drastically different. I knew there was so much to learn about this new world of work. Even the small things like learning to write emails to colleagues, effectively communicating your opinions and working with other stakeholders were extremely new contexts for me that school can never prepare you for.
I brought a lot of traits from my old sixth form and school days over, and I struggled massively at the beginning of my apprenticeship. For example, I lacked preparedness for meetings, which held me back professionally since I wasn’t getting the most out of my interactions.
Overcoming challenges
To overcome this, I started implementing new practices to help me succeed. I brought a notebook in and took meeting notes. I planned my week on Monday mornings to get ahead and wrote to-do lists, which helped me feel organized. While it took some mistakes along the way, I’m proud of the employee I am today.
Overall, my main advice to those starting new careers (whether that is via an apprenticeship or not) is to accept that you will make mistakes along your journey, and that is more than okay. Education, itself, can’t prepare you for the real world, so try new things—.fail at some, and succeed at others. All I can say is—failure, practice, and the motivation to succeed have gotten me to where I am today, and in my current role at Multiverse, I enjoy helping people, who were in the same position as me when I just graduated school, kickstart their careers.
