The Apprentice is on our TV screens at the moment but our very first new apprentice, Elissa Evans, started at our Apley office a few weeks ago.
Elissa is studying a two-year Level Two diploma in Business Administration supervised by Telford College, while working as an administration apprentice within our Voluntary Services team.
The scheme is headed up by our Retail Volunteer Coordinator, Dawn Felton, and Elissa will spend much of her time helping recruit volunteers as well as working in other areas including Income Generation and in our charity shops.
And it’s a family affair for Elissa – who will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and ex-employee Kim Harrison.
Her grandmother, Kim, retired last year after working for the charity for well over a decade as a receptionist and ward clerk, where she was based at our hospices in Bicton and Apley.
Elissa said: “When I found out I’d got the job I was really shocked as I thought it was going to be really difficult to get an apprenticeship. I was really happy – I’m just excited to get going now and to see what the future might hold.
“My gran worked here for years and she knows all the staff. She is so happy and has not stopped telling everyone she knows that I got the apprenticeship. A lot of her friends work here and she just keeps on bragging about it!
“I’m just looking forward to getting a lot of different experience and getting my Level Two Diploma. Obviously it’s not guaranteed there will be a job at the end of it but hopefully there will be.”
Elissa will support our new retail recruitment toolkit initiative, which aims to back shop managers across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.
Phil Brannon, Volunteer and Support Service manager, added: “We believe that the two year apprenticeship will not only support the Voluntary Service team but will also offer additional valuable work experience for Elissa in other work areas.”
He added: “We didn’t know anything about Elissa being the granddaughter of Kim Harrison until we offered her the job and she said ‘my nan will be pleased!’”
Elissa devotes her spare time to singing and playing the guitar and before joining our team achieved three distinctions in music at Telford College.
