#NAW2016 - Meet our apprentice Tom

My name’s Tom Dearman, I’m 18 and currently on a year’s apprenticeship with SCAPE.

Before joining SCAPE I was studying at a football academy for my Level 2 Extended Certificate in Sport but couldn’t really see a future there. So I signed up with Positive Outcomes hoping to find an apprenticeship. I was looking for general office administration roles close to home (I live in Nottingham). Positive Outcomes contacted SCAPE as a city centre employer, met with their Chief Executive, Mark Robinson, and together set up SCAPE’s first apprenticeship scheme.

I had my first ever formal interview with SCAPE and was really nervous to start with but they set the tone and made me relax by being so warm and welcoming. I came out of the interview feeling positive and really interested in the work SCAPE does. When I was offered the apprenticeship I thought it was a really good opportunity, not only to get the experience of working in a professional environment but also because the working atmosphere and benefits are great.

My responsibilities include meeting and greeting visitors to the office, ensuring the meeting rooms are set up, operating the main switchboard, distributing the emails that come in to the general address, post duties, scanning, filing, photocopying and binding plus ordering and managing the stationery supplies. I particularly enjoy being involved with internal and external events – booking travel and accommodation – as I get to see the process from start to finish and get a lot of satisfaction from knowing I’ve been part of something successful.

I’m acquiring a really broad experience across all the different departments within the Group and have learned how to communicate in a professional tone over the telephone, by email and in person. I’ve upskilled in Microsoft Office and Outlook and become better at time-keeping.

I see a future at SCAPE – in fact my year’s contract has already been extended so that I can complete my experience of all the departments. I’d like to continue with the general office administration, especially the meet and greet function in the office as well as events organisation. Working from the ground up will give me a broad knowledge of the company, allow me to develop my skillset and provide me with the opportunity to work out what career path to follow. Taking an apprenticeship with SCAPE was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.