Wirral Met help university graduates secure work experience

This week marks National Apprenticeship Week and Wirral Met are helping to bridge the skills gap among their apprenticeships.

With both technical and soft skills in demand by employers, many graduates are looking at different routes to employment and are seeing the benefits an apprenticeship can offer them after a degree.

Caitlin Sullivan,22, from Heswall, joined Wirral Met on an AAT Assistant Accountant apprenticeship in 2019, after completing a politics degree at the University of York.

She told the Globe: “I had a gap in my skillset when I left university and I was lucky to spend time at Wirral Met to considerably improve and polish my knowledge in public finance.

“I was really concerned about my graduate prospects. The question of ‘getting a graduate scheme’ became the golden question and it ruled my third year experience.

“When I moved back home to the Wirral after graduating, and amidst the flurry of job-hunting, I found the apprenticeship scheme and I felt like it would open a lot of doors for me.”

Caitlin undertook a two-year apprenticeship at Wirral Borough Council, working in the Finance and Investment division as an apprentice accountant.

Alongside gaining an internationally recognised AAT qualification, Caitlin said the apprenticeship helped enhance her CV and gave her a new-found confidence with finance and numbers.  

Now 24 years old, Caitlin completed her apprenticeship in March 2021 and has progressed on to Queen’s University Belfast to study a Masters in International Public Policy – a move she attributes to her time as an apprentice.

Caitlin added: “Without the practical and technical experience I gained throughout my apprenticeship, I don’t think I would’ve embarked on doing a masters in the first place. So in that regard, I would 100% call it a life changing experience.”

For more information on Wirral Met’s apprenticeships and vacancies, visit https://www.wmc.ac.uk/apprentices-week