Broadcast: News items

University of Sussex apprentice graduates (front row, L-R); Charlotte Littlejones, Eleanor Cartwright, Joanna Dale, Francesca Marks-Dennis, Gemma Harman, Terry Cooper, Kelly Feldman. (Back row) Aaron Munnery and Ben Ospalak

Chris Hamilton, Apprenticeships Officer, recently chatted to Gemma Harman who achieved the Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship with KnowledgeBrief. This includes CMI Certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management - CMI Chartered Manager (Fellow) Status meaning Gemma is entitled to use the designatory letters FCMI.

Gemma, what made you choose this apprenticeship programme?

I chose the apprenticeship programme because it represented an increase in my qualifications.  Up until now I've taken an undergraduate degree and I wanted to do something that would represent a move forward in that. I chose a Masters level apprenticeship as I wanted to push myself and I chose the senior leader qualification because in my career, the one thing that's been across every role is management. I wanted to ensure that everything I've been doing, and think I'm doing well, I'm actually doing well according to theory and models. I wanted to get some academic grounding to my practise.

How did you balance your work and study commitments?

I found it challenging to balance work and study and at the beginning of my apprenticeship. There was a lot of going through readings and lots of essays and I was able to do that a bit at a time, an hour here and there. 

Then it became more about essays and large projects, and I found that actually it was about blocking out time in my diary and saying no. That was something I had to learn - to say, “well, actually I'm at the business end of my apprenticeship and I've got about six months left. If that thing can wait, it's going to have to wait”. So maybe not saying yes when I was asked to do something that was outside of my job role just whilst I was finishing off my apprenticeship. I had to make some more difficult decisions and it taught me how to how to turn things down, which is something I'm not very good at doing.

What were some of the major challenges you encountered throughout your apprenticeship and how did you overcome them?

I really struggle with anxiety when I feel that I'm being assessed. I'm quite confident in my day-to-day work. I'm confident in talking in large meetings, but the minute I feel I'm going into an assessment, I become quite anxious. And that happens with essays I'm submitting or when I came up to the point of the final assessment. One of the things I did early on is a bit of mindfulness. When I was getting really stressed or starting to write an essay, I did a little bit of mindfulness or a little bit of meditation, to calm myself down. Then towards the end I actually put in for reasonable adjustments. I was honest with my skills assessor about how I was feeling about things and the CMI very kindly give me my all my questions in writing as well as verbally during the oral exam, so that I could read them and not get so stressed. So that did really help me and the CMI were really good at giving me those reasonable adjustments.

Did you get a lot of support from your coach at KnowledgeBrief, your training provider?

I guess one of the challenges is that I had four different coaches because Knowledge Brief had a lot of staff turnover and they grew, and that was a bit of a challenge. But I also got different things from each coach and my final coach was incredibly supportive. He did a lot of practises with me, which was really helpful. We did many, many sessions where he shot questions at me, to be ready for the end point assessment which was really useful.

What are some of the benefits of doing an apprenticeship?

It made me take the time needed to do a proper work-related project where I wouldn't necessarily have felt that I could usually. I really put in the time to research and write up my findings, whereas usually I would be making decisions on the fly. I was able to use the time for the apprenticeship to write up a fully evidenced report.

I did things methodically, surveyed my stakeholders and came out with some really great outcomes, and I am now implementing that. My final business proposal was about the staffing structure for the area that I oversee, which is Science Research Professional Services and as a result of that, we are actually doing it! We've already hired one of the staff members that I suggested in my apprenticeship proposal and writing a job description for another right now. So, I have actually seen two staff added to our team partly as a result of the work that I did in the apprenticeship.

Tell me about your proudest apprenticeship achievement

It's quite hard going back to academic writing after such a long gap. I was proud every time I submitted an academic essay and it passed. In the apprenticeship, the essays are pass or fail so every time I passed, it's a big relief and I thought, gosh, I can't believe I did that.

Also, my skills coach has asked me if they could use my business proposal as a model for other learners so that they can see how a good proposal works, and that's really, really nice feedback. And equally, the first piece of work-based evidence that I submitted was used in a training session, obviously taking out detail and making it anonymous, but they used it to show other apprenticeships how to submit work-based evidence. So that was just really lovely feedback too….and that made me feel really good.

In the workplace the proudest apprenticeship achievement would be learning a lot more about equality and diversity. I was able to put into place in my recruitment practices. So, to support neurodivergence I started providing the first question in advance and let candidates know that if they wanted their questions in writing too then we would offer that. I've had two bits of feedback this year from applicants saying that it's the most accessible interview they've ever had at Sussex which was really nice.

What can you reveal about yourself that few people know?

I come from a background of aristocracy and my family still have a castle in Lancaster, not too many people know that. Actually, it was great fun because I was chatting about it one time with my boss and it turns out that his family love that castle and they have visited it loads of times!

Please look out for more apprenticeship interviews from our inspiring and talented staff and contact staffapprenticeships@sussex.ac.uk or look at the staff apprenticeship webpages if you would like to know more how you can benefit from these programmes.