Life as an apprentice: the Chartered Management experience

Casey Gabriel, Kent apprentice at Total Ships, told us what it’s like to be a Chartered Management degree apprentice

Casey is in the first year of his Chartered Manager degree apprenticeship, and we recently got the chance to talk to him about his experience so far.  Casey’s apprenticeship programme is four years long, and is underpinned by a BSc (Hons) in Management from Kent.

This is his first full-time job, and already Casey has been able to grow in his position.  Starting by supporting colleagues out in the yard, he has been able to move on to dealing with customers.  As the main vocal point for Total Ships’ biggest company, his degree apprenticeship has helped him to develop the necessary skills for dealing with both colleagues and customers.

When asked why he chose an apprenticeship (rather than a traditional degree), Casey explained that this apprenticeship was desirable because it was better recognised amongst employers.  Rather than a generic course in management, he believes that Kent’s degree apprenticeship touches far more of the bases of management training necessary for his role.

chartered manager apprentice
Kent’s Chartered Management degree apprenticeship touches on the bases of management necessary for his role.

As the Chartered Manager degree apprenticeship is mainly in the form of directed self-learning, apprentices are able to self-manage their workload.  The blended course is also tailored to be relevant to the apprentice’s role in the workplace so that it is as effective as possible.

We asked Casey what advice he would give those looking into apprenticeships:

‘Definitely give it a go, even though it’s daunting and there’s a lot of work involved, it will definitely be rewarding at the end of it.’

More information about University of Kent’s degree apprenticeships are available here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/apprenticeships/current-apprenticeships.html