Leanne Read started working for Neon Freight, a Cheshire-based company who specialise in creating customised logistics solutions, two years ago as a Trainee Freight Forwarder. One of her colleagues was completing the International Freight Forwarding apprenticeship with Seetec Training at the time, and soon Leanne was offered the opportunity to follow in her footsteps.
Leanne completed the apprenticeship in October and has earned recognition for her achievements during this time, being nominated for ‘Apprentice of the Year’ at the 2024 BIFA (British International Freight Association) Awards.
Before starting with Neon Freight, Leanne previously completed a Psychology degree at university and was working as a Personal Assistant in a Law Firm. She explained why she decided to make the career change, and how the apprenticeship has helped to make that transition easier:
“I want to progress and develop personally and professionally, and I felt that I’d hit the ceiling in my previous job, so I found a job advert advertising the position at Neon, and thankfully they took a chance on me! I knew nothing about freight forwarding at the start, but that’s where the apprenticeship has been so valuable for me.”
She went on to describe her experience of the apprenticeship: “I’ve really enjoyed it. It was a while since I’d done any kind of studying, so it took a bit of adjustment to get back into the flow of writing assignments and speaking to a tutor again. Thankfully, I got on so well with my tutor, Clare, and it’s nice to have such a good relationship with the person who’s guiding you through the learning.”
Finally, Leanne looked to the future and outlined her ambitions from this point: “The apprenticeship has definitely given me confidence to move on to the next stage. I want to carry on learning, in fact I want to learn as much as possible! Doing the apprenticeship has enabled me to go to my manager and ask what’s next? It’s reignited my hunger for learning, and that will only support my career progression going forward.”
Want to know more about our various apprenticeship programmes? Click here to take a look and to find out how you can get in touch with us: Apprenticeships | Seetec Outsource
