Amy McGarry is one of three employees at Bluestone Leasing undertaking an apprenticeship with Damar Training.

Having just completed her level three BTec diploma in business administration Amy took some time out of her work and studies to tell us about her course and why she chose to study alongside working.

“I made the decision to move onto level three of my apprenticeship shortly after completing level two, having enjoyed the modules I completed in levels one and two and seeing how they improved my work on a day to day basis it seemed like the perfect way to continue my progression at Bluestone Leasing.”

“This course involved 13 modules made up of four written exams and nine pieces of coursework as well as on the job observations and discussions between course tutors and my colleagues here at Bluestone. I was also required to create a portfolio of work undertaken in the office with annotations on the changes I made to processes and documents based on my learnings.

The course has focused my mind on best practices, task management and prioritising my workload. I have found that my confidence has increased as I have completed my level three studies which has allowed me to speak up more and put my opinions forwards, which is something I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing in the past.

One task that particularly helped with my confidence was presenting to my colleagues and delegates; I was asked to deliver a presentation around the modules I was studying and the changes I have and would like to make to certain processes at Bluestone Leasing. As the topic was something I was comfortable and confident talking about it took the initial nerves away and allowed me to focus on my delivery rather than the content of my presentation.

Standing up and presenting in front of people was a big hurdle for me to overcome and since completing the task this is something I would be comfortable doing again, both in one on one situations and in larger groups.

The apprenticeship has led to me having increased responsibility at work with my role having progressed through three different phases as my knowledge has increased. With my level three modules completed I am now managing the running of our brand new office building in Wakefield, looking after everything from stock management, alarm system maintenance and contractor hire. This has again given me a huge boost in confidence as knowing that Bluestone Leasing has so much faith in me gives me the confidence to excel in this new role with the aim of progressing my career here and taking on more and more responsibilities with every passing month”