We know there are often so many questions when it comes to considering an apprenticeship, and so we’re on a mission to help you understand what’s involved, how an apprenticeship is structured, and what your personal journey might look like. Meet our Apprenticeship Mentor, Jason.

This week, we’re focusing on our mentors – a team of experienced Business Analysts who guide our apprentices through their learning journey, and work with them closely to help grow their technical abilities, confidence and skills along the way. We talked with Apprenticeship Mentor, Jason about his approach.

How do you work with apprentices?

As an apprenticeship mentor, I’m here to help our apprentices take what’s learned on the course, and apply it in their day to day practice as a Business Analyst.  Through one-to-one mentoring and coaching I help them to build confidence in their work, which leads to becoming a more effective Business Analyst.

We use a skills assessment pyramid (among other tools) to help evaluate where they are at the beginning of the programme, and to identify where they want to be. We then work together to take the steps necessary throughout the programme to help them achieve these objectives.

As an apprenticeship mentor, I also encourage them to think and reflect on their individual strengths and preferences in the context of their work. This helps them to understand what aspects of the role they find most enjoyable and rewarding, and to seek or create opportunities to spend more time on those activities. By doing more of what you love,  you will love more of what you do!

How does this work in practice?

We hold regular 1:1s every two weeks where we get together and map out what’s happened since the last meeting, whether there are elements of the learning the apprentice needs help with, and we also work through any potential blocks or barriers or issues.

I think of myself as a coach as well as a mentor.  I support the apprentice to understand and apply what they have learned to the work environment, and act as a sounding board to help understand and explore what they observe at work through the lens of Business Analysis.

From my own experience it’s useful to speak to someone who can relate to your day to day experience, but can offer a different perspective to help you to see things in another way.

Want to find out more about the BA apprenticeships programme? You can read our related article here

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