Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2023 | Unlocking Potential blog by Neave Doig

This week is Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2023, a campaign showcasing how apprenticeships are unlocking potential in people and businesses.

Apprenticeships allow people from diverse backgrounds and abilities to gain and develop skills. These skills will support individuals throughout their life and in work.

In today’s blog post we hear from Neave Doig, Hillcrest Homes learning & development apprentice, as she reflects on her apprenticeship and gives advice to any young people looking to start one.

A bit about me

Hi! My name is Neave Doig, I’m 19 and I love art, fashion and going to festivals.

I started an apprenticeship at Hillcrest in September 2022 and my role is an assistant in the Learning and Development team.

I saw the apprenticeship roles advertised on the Hillcrest website and the Learning and Development position stood out a little more for me as it involved customer service and seemed like a very interactive role, which was important to me as I like helping people.

Hillcrest and my team have been an amazing support with helping me find my feet in the office. I had no experience in an office environment before and my team has made it really easy for me to adjust. They have also been very helpful when I’ve been struggling to understand something or complete a task. The thing I enjoy most about working for Hillcrest is being able to help people and make their jobs a little easier.

Advice for young people

Advice I would give someone looking for an apprenticeship would be to go for it, and to try to do one as soon as they can. Going to college or university isn’t the only route to developing a career – taking on an apprenticeship can give you so much more real time experience, which isn’t always on offer via college or university.

Challenges and how I overcame them

I’ve had a few challenges with my job, in that I sometimes find it difficult to focus and concentrate in the office environment. This can lead to me finding some tasks quite difficult to do. However, with these struggles, my team has been so patient and supportive in trying to find ways to help me focus or to make things easier to break down and understand. My colleagues are always helping me to find new ways to lay things out or a new system to use to keep track of what I need to do.

Sharing my views

Hillcrest runs a Young People’s Voice group, of which I’m a member. The group gives younger workers and apprentices the chance to voice their opinions on work-related matters and we have the opportunity to help influence and shape decision making within the organisation, which I think is really important.

I would recommend taking on a role at Hillcrest because they encourage everyone to do the best they can and to go as far as possible. Hillcrest is a very supportive company and do all they can to help apprentices unlock their potential.

As for the future, I look forward to completing my apprenticeship with Hillcrest and I’m excited for what might come next!

#ScotAppWeek23 #UnlockingPotential