Landmark takes part in the National Apprenticeship Week

With 11 great apprentices on board, Landmark carries out a number of supportive activities.
By Sarosh Khalid

National Apprenticeship Week (3-7 March) now in its seventh consecutive year, proposes to raise awareness around the successful scheme of apprenticeships and to help build a positive impact amongst employers, individuals, teachers, parents, media and the wider community. As most employers took turn in participating in this year’s National Apprenticeship week carrying out various activities, we also got a chance to showcase our Apprentices experiences, thought and values here at Landmark. In support of the positive scheme, Landmark Information Group has taken on 11 successful apprentices in various departments including Finance, Sales, Marketing, IT, Data and Customer Services to ensure the bright future for the younger generation.

Taking our turn in the National Apprentice Week, we took part in various shadowing activities across all offices including Exeter and Reading and delivered great insights into the working ways of Landmark.

Emily Stephens and Aidan Richards, both working in Exeter as Apprentices within the Finance department reported back how they felt about their shadowing activity and what they made of their day away from their desks. They looked at finance organisation charts and spoke about current job roles, what they did previously and what they would like to do in the future. Emily said: “The day was more interesting than I thought it would be! It’s really nice to see where my work comes into play with the rest of the team’s job roles”. The pair who are always so enthusiastic about working here at Landmark, summarised that the Shadowing activity helped them decide to go into future Finance and Management Accountant roles.

Whilst this took place, other apprentices sat in on meetings discussing their division and additional product knowledge. Jack Sheppard and Daniel Butler, both bright Systems Apprentices sat in with the CTO, Ian Clarke as they spoke with members of the recent acquisitions. Jack joined Landmark nearly a year ago in May 2013 and says: “I was eager to see how other aspects of the company operate and this meeting gave me the perfect opportunity to experience this”.

Similarly, to gain a better understanding of the company, we had Jay Cardona-Martin and Farouq Sulaiman travel up to Birmingham to take part in the Monthly Sales meeting with all the regional account managers. Jay and Farouq, both Sales Apprentices primarily working in Environment & Mapping had the opportunity to listen in on product development aspects and understand the pre-planning and level of detail that goes into all Landmark products within the Legal Division. Farouq felt he learnt a great deal more and said: “The amount of discussion and ideas in the meeting were brilliant. We understood the different approach needed for the clients in comparison to Environment & Mapping and became aware of what other activities that are taking place in terms of social media”.

Charlotte Smith and Aaron Manley, our newest Data apprentices joined Landmark early this year in January and have comfortably settled in with their teams. They shadowed Bob Maskell, Customer Service Manager, as he gave them background information on the company and slightly more insight on Landmark Solutions. Charlotte said: “We learnt that Landmark sell historic maps and an Act that was introduced in 1976 actually kicked off Landmark selling maps”. As Charlotte and Aaron understood the ground commitments of their area they were also being informed about the different contracts they will be dealing with.

I went into London to attend the Voice of Apprenticeships Conference to see how the status of apprenticeships could be changed. I came across some very powerful ideas and left with Matthews Hancock’s statement: “The best people to talk about apprenticeships are apprentices themselves”. The conference allowed me to voice my opinions on apprenticeship with other apprentices within the room as we collectively addressed all issues.

As the National Apprentice Week came to an end, we heard back from all apprentices about how they felt in their roles and received excellent feedback. Jack said: “Overall I would rate the experience highly as it gave me a greater understanding into how different businesses achieve their goals” along with Aaron: “Thank you Bob for his time and the organisers of the day as it was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about our company and its day to day organisation”.

In return it was great to hear that Landmark values its apprentices’ contributions. As much as we think we are learning from them, Landmark learns from us every day, as Ian Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, eloquently stated “For me, it’s about finding and developing talent and giving people an opportunity.”