Toby, 27, found himself wondering what to do next after being made redundant during the pandemic. Having previously studied History at Manchester University and then having moved into his family’s ironmongery business, Toby felt that he needed to find a route into a new industry and that’s why he applied for the Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship with Sky.
Toby explained the reasons behind this decision: “I’d been out of work for a couple of months by that point, so I felt that by starting the apprenticeship, it would give me some of the fundamental skills required rather than jumping straight in at the deep end.”
Toby started his course in January 2021 and completed it in April of 2022, when he then transitioned straight into his current role of Customer Service Advisor. Now that Toby is in the rare position of having completed both a university degree and an apprenticeship, he was able to reflect on the differences between the two:
“I found my degree subject a little bit boring towards the end, whereas the apprenticeship was condensed into less than half the time; that was a big selling point to me. In addition to that, not only was I earning whilst learning, but everything was geared towards me doing the job full-time afterwards.”
And then on his experience of the learning style of the experience, Toby added: “Everything was concise and laid out for you, you were given time to complete it alongside the job and it worked out really well for me.”
In terms of the skills that Toby learnt on the apprenticeship, he now uses them day-in and day-out in his current role: “My tutor Joanne had done a similar job to me before so she could give me a personalised experience and could tailor her advice directly to me. For example she taught me how to be concise in my communication.”
Going forwards, Toby wants to stay with Sky and is open to other internal vacancies that may crop up. He has experienced a complete career change in his mid-twenties and suddenly a whole new world of opportunities has become available to him. Starting an apprenticeship was the decision that led him there.
To find out more about Toby’s apprenticeship, click here.
