From Katie’s own apprenticeship reflection.
When people think of apprenticeships, they often picture someone at the very start of their career. But apprenticeships can be just as powerful, sometimes even more so, when you’re already established, experienced and ready for your next challenge. This year, I decided to take that step by starting a CIM Level 6 apprenticeship in Communications and Marketing.
The course fits around my job in a way that feels energising rather than overwhelming. I’ll learn something in the morning and use it that afternoon. It’s not abstract. It’s not hypothetical. It’s real, practical, and instantly useful.
Do I always have the time to implement everything? No, but it's there, bubbling away in the background.
My role already asks a lot of me: clarity, creativity, legal awareness, diplomacy, the ability to write something engaging about literally anything (including our bogs and bins ha-ha!), but I wanted to sharpen those skills. I wanted structure. I wanted to stretch myself. And I wanted to bring fresh thinking back into my work.
And the apprenticeship has done exactly that. Every module gives me something I can use straight away. It’s like levelling up in real time.
There’s something incredibly satisfying about studying as an adult — when you choose it, when you can see the impact, when you’re doing it because you want to be better at what you do.
It’s given me a spark. I feel more confident, more capable, and more connected to my work. And yes, I am now that person who says, “Actually, my apprenticeship covered this…” far more often than anyone asked for!
It’s made me sharper. More intentional. More aware of why certain things work and others don’t. And it’s made me appreciate my job even more.