Meet Business Admin apprentice: Carys Hutt

One of the initial things I liked most about Bluecube was the modern feel of the website; and how the company didn’t look like your typical office. It looked fun and there was a clear friendly environment. I also liked how the company was based in central Milton Keynes, in a good area.

When I was searching for Business Admin/ HR apprenticeships, there weren’t that many around in HR or business admin – especially ones where you gain qualifications with MK College, and are offered a role within the company upon completion.

With Bluecube’s Business Admin apprenticeship, I liked how many responsibilities there were, especially the opportunity to help other teams and how the role offered lots of variety.

I have enjoyed being given responsibilities and the opportunities for personal and professional development.

Also, the people at Bluecube have been incredibly supportive and helpful, especially Heather Findlater, the Environment & Office Manager. She has given me so many opportunities during my apprenticeship so far; I feel trusted and supported. The responsibilities I’ve been given by her have allowed me to take ownership of tasks and gain confidence.

It’s going really well, I like it. I enjoy how you’re always learning.

Initially, I was worried about the college side of the apprenticeship. But I have received so much help from everyone here at Bluecube – especially Heather, Aishah Ahmed, Richard Cook and David Robinson. They’ve been incredibly supportive and have all individually taken the time to sit down with me and answer any questions I have about clients or their role in order to complete my college assignments.

So far, I have also gained a lot more confidence, especially communicating over the phone and improving my computer skills. I have also developed my skills in prioritising work, which consists of looking at all of the tasks that I have been given and determining their priority and working through the most important first.

During my apprenticeship, I have also had the opportunity to go on additional training courses, such as receiving Fire Warden Training. It was informative and I found it a lot of fun. During the three-hour course, we put out fires, learned about the different types of extinguishers, when to use them, and hazards.

I have also found that I have enough time to complete both my college work and Bluecube work during the week. Typically, I complete all the work in the office, although I do have the option to do college work at home if I want. I’m currently all caught up on my college work as we get one day a week to complete any work for college, and then we are required to go into college once a month.

Every week there are very different responsibilities, mainly because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the day or who’s going to come to you for assistance.

However, some of my typical office activities include cleaning the kitchen and break areas, giving out post, meeting and greeting guests, answering enquiry calls, and making sure that all office and kitchen stock is up to date. I’m always ordering off Amazon; as an office, we seem to go through a lot of hot chocolate and mouse or keyboard batteries!

Recently, I have taken on more HR tasks and responsibilities, including sending out onboarding contracts through DocuSign to new employees, filing these in our online HR system, making sure to scan new starters ID documents on their first day and place the scan into their personal folder on our online system.

Other tasks that I have worked on included going through and changing the fire evacuation maps, helping with internal events and organising an ice cream van for everyone on Sports Day, as well as helping Ashleigh Gibson (our Chief Marketing Officer) ask all employees for their clothing sizes so that we could order new Bluecube clothing with the rebranded look.

For me it’s been the college work. Sometimes the assignments require evidence of working with clients and asking about some of the things I’ve had to deal with. However, within my role, I’m not directly client-facing and don’t deal with Bluecube’s clients on a day-to-day basis. So, in order to complete this, I’ve had to speak to our Client Engagement team and ask them more about their experiences.

Another element that my college course work focuses on is commercial and software knowledge, which is not something that is required of me in my daily work at Bluecube either. To complete this, I’ve spoken with various teams and people in the business to help out.

I would definitely like to stay at Bluecube and move more into a HR role. In the future, I would also like to gain further HR qualifications and progress within this area.

If you’re interested in the role, do it. I think it’s best to just go straight into it. You’re taught everything you need to know on the job, plus you get qualified at the same time. With an apprenticeship, you’re always meeting new people and gaining more experience in the workplace.