Every year, college leavers who start their apprenticeships on our Future Talent programmes, have an initial apprenticeship induction and a 2-day bootcamp session to become ‘work ready.’ For many, their apprenticeship is their first full time job, so these sessions are designed to develop work etiquette, soft skills, communication skills and more to enable them to have the best possible start to their working life.
This year, like most things in 2020, our Future Talent Bootcamp sessions were different. Delivered online, with smaller groups, we introduced a new Bootcamp Challenge. After receiving intensive skills training, which included training in remote working and team-working, the apprentices were asked to return to compete in this challenge day and were given an hour and a half to plan, research and practice their presentations, before delivering it via Zoom to a panel of judges from the Apprentice Academy.
The search for our Future Talent Bootcamp Challenge Champions for 2020, culminated in 45 apprentices being asked to work in teams to research and present their findings on the topic of ‘Are there any silver linings for businesses, as a result of the COVID pandemic?’
We found that the standard was very high from all teams and the judges were impressed by the content and delivery of the presentations and the excellent team-working skills displayed. There were a wide variety of interesting ideas put forward on how positive impacts could be maximised by their businesses moving forward.
Here were the winners of the challenge:
The Winners
Bianka (Accountancy Apprentice at Alexander & Co) took first prize for her individual performance, rating very highly for both her outstanding presentation skills and detailed content, including some interesting research on time management and flexibility when working from home. Congratulations Bianka!
Sean (Business Administration Apprentice at Behrens) came in second place, building on the skills that he had learnt and the confidence he had gained at Bootcamp to deliver a natural and engaging presentation. Well done to Sean!
The group winners from Network Rail displayed brilliant team-working skills and put together a well thought-out and executed presentation, expertly anchored by team-member Bradley. All team members (Charlotte, Elisha, Zac and Liam) confidently and clearly explained a range of topics related to how productivity increases can be achieved by working from home, including interesting research on work-life balance, hints on how to stay motivated and a focus on mental health and well-being. Well done Team Network Rail!
A mixed cohort group, Lucy (Business Administration at Bright Futures), Fatimah (Accountancy Apprentice at Invasion) Shanea and Jack (both Accountancy Apprentices at Haines Watts) were also highly commended for their detailed research and recommendations on financial support and home-working efficiencies.
Overall, we were very impressed with the apprentices who took part in the challenge! We hope that the bootcamp sessions were useful and will stand them in good stead for their roles and give them the best possible start to their working lives!
Learn more about our Future Talent programme.