James is a Light Rail Operations Manager at Heathrow Airport. He recently achieved a distinction for his level 5 operations manager apprenticeship. In this case study James spoke to us about his apprenticeship journey.
Why did you decide to do an apprenticeship?
I always knew I needed to invest in myself and do some form of extra study and learning to solidify my role as a Light Rail Operations Manager and further my career in the future. I left school a year early and went straight into a trade and worked my way up to management. Heathrow and Damar gave me the opportunity to obtain management qualifications, and I was so grateful for the opportunity.
What has been the biggest highlight of your apprenticeship so far?
My biggest highlight of my apprenticeship was proving to myself that I could sustain 18 months of study and extra work , carrying out learning, completing assignments and just putting in the hours necessary to get through it all. Plus I was able to achieve my maths and English certificates and obtained a great result in my EPA.
How has the apprenticeship impacted on you and your development?
I have always had an interest in self-development and learning, and having so much great leadership and management resources and subjects condensed into one apprenticeship was amazing. I was also very fortunate in the role I have at Heathrow, where I could put into practice almost immediately most of the techniques and theories I was learning.
What additional impact do you think you’ve been able to have now on your organisation as a result of the apprenticeship?
As a manager and leader at Heathrow, the more tools of I have in my locker, the better. Now I know you can do your day job and still develop yourself over a sustained period, I will be able to help my team to look for similar opportunities to develop themselves. The leadership and management techniques I have learned I will be able to use and revisit whenever I need them and that is so valuable in a role like mine.
What was your experience of Damar’s approach to training and development?
I started out on this journey and it was quite overwhelming. I was hoping it would make more sense as I went along, and all of my coaches and tutors were so understanding and found ways to explain and make things easier for me to understand. This approach built my confidence and helped me to continue to grow into the course. I can’t thank my Damar coach and tutors – Julie Jerath, Iain Goldie and Jo Claire – enough for all their faith and hard work that has helped me along the way.