Apprenticeships are a powerful pathway for personal and professional growth, offering a unique combination of hands-on experience and formal education. Whether you’re just starting your career, looking to specialise in a new area, or aiming to develop advanced skills, apprenticeships provide practical learning opportunities tailored to your role.
Elysium provides Workplace Apprenticeship Qualifications across a variety of subjects, helping our staff members gain job-relevant qualifications to support their professional growth. Whether you’re a Nurse, HCA, doctor or a support worker, or in one of our support teams such as marketing, finance and IT, there are a range of apprenticeships available to strengthen your skills in your current role or take the next step in your career.
In this blog, we’ll dive into the apprenticeship journey of Jennifer, Elysium’s MEL Content Creator in the Learning and Development team. Her story highlights the transformative power of trust, flexibility, and support in the workplace when managing a successful apprenticeship and career.
Tell us more about the apprenticeship that you took part in with Elysium
When I joined Elysium, I was already in the middle of my apprenticeship and needed to transfer it from my old employer to my new employer. I was just about to enter the endpoint assessment phase of the apprenticeship when I was made redundant from my previous company. For an apprenticeship like the one I completed, you complete all the learning, including online e-learning and attending workshops, before reaching the endpoint assessment, which primarily involves completing a pilot project.
When I joined Elysium, I had already completed all the e-learning, learning journals, and the assessment presentation while at my previous company. The final thing left to do was the project and its evaluation. My manager at Elysium was very supportive, and together we identified a project I could run, write about, and include as part of my assessment. I managed to complete the project, write it up, and present it alongside my previous work.
I finalised everything, completed the endpoint assessment, and received my results. I’m proud to say I achieved a merit. It was definitely a journey, but having the chance to carry over my prior work and complete the project with support from Elysium made all the difference.
How did the apprenticeship align with your current role?
I’ve worked in Learning and Development (L&D) for many years, before and after my career break to have children. Throughout that time, I’ve always wanted to pursue the CIPD qualification, as it’s the nationally recognised standard for L&D professionals. It’s something I’d always had my eye on, so starting it at my previous company felt like a natural step.
Although the qualification is not a digital learning qualification, it’s still highly relevant to the field of L&D. I love learning and am always looking for ways to grow, so this qualification, an apprenticeship at Level 5, is just one step in my ongoing development.
Tell us more about your career journey, have you always worked in Learning and Development?
I have a degree in Psychology and after I graduated, my first step into Learning and Development (L&D) was a secondment as a Learning Development Advisor for the local police force, where I worked to understand their training challenges and develop tailored solutions. After that, I moved into a permanent L&D role as a Training Coordinator for an energy company, focusing on safety training and a career development path for workers and managers at substations to prevent accidents.
I then took a career break to raise my two daughters. When I returned to work, I joined a pub company, which was my first real introduction to digital learning. Historically digital learning required specialist skills in coding, but as technology has advanced coding is not required, and in this role designed storyboards and collaborated with senior stakeholders and subject matter experts to create e-learning packages.
This progression naturally led me to my current focus at Elysium where I am designing and producing digital learning content myself. I have built a career that’s touched nearly every aspect of L&D—from organising training sessions to developing career pathways and creating e-learning content.
What attracted you to join Elysium Healthcare?
I already felt confident in areas like training analysis, identifying what training individuals or the company needed, and design, having created learning programs for a range of roles, from apprentices to site managers, and even pathways for employees to progress in their careers. I was also comfortable with implementation, managing LMS systems, and evaluation. However, the development side, specifically creating content, was an area I wanted to improve. This role allowed me to close that gap.
What makes this position work so well for me is the flexibility it offers and the support I have been given as a full-time working mum with two kids. I often say I have two full-time jobs—my role here and raising my children. On top of that, I’m essentially a taxi driver, running my kids to their classes and activities, including competitive swimming training. Being given the flexibility to work remotely allows me to manage my responsibilities at home while maintaining my career.
I’ve also found a real joy in collaboration and have met some inspiring and passionate people through the projects I’ve been involved with. Collaboration is key to creating effective learning solutions. It’s all about working with the business to truly understand their needs and challenges, which is something I really enjoy.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of taking part in an Apprenticeship?
The best advice I could offer is to start an apprenticeship at a time when you can dedicate both personal and professional time While I had the full support of my manager and was given the one day a week allocated for apprenticeship work in my role, there was still a significant amount of personal time required. It is not something to take lightly.
Looking back, it’s been quite a journey, and I am grateful to have built a strong network of learning professionals with the other learners from the apprenticeship, as we kept each other going during the busier times. If you are interested in completing an apprenticeship, I’d recommend ensuing you have the personal time to commit to this and then go for it. That way, the experience will be more enjoyable and less stressful.
Elysium employees have access to a range of diverse and exciting career development opportunities. We are committed to building a skilled and capable workforce that is motivated and can achieve their career aspirations. To learn more about the learning and development opportunities that Elysium provides, please click here.