#NAW19 Apprenticeship Case Study: Faye Linturn

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2019, we’re catching up with some of our brightest apprentices who are building their careers across a range of industries, and finding out how they are making a difference to the businesses from their employers.

Today we hear from Faye Linturn, a Level 2 Business Administration apprentice at Superdry.

What made you choose to do an apprenticeship?

I studied my A Levels at Bournside School because, at the time, I wasn’t sure what career route I wanted to take. I then decided to undertake an apprenticeship rather than go to university as I wanted to gain real work experience and earn money, whilst still developing my skills.

I jumped at the chance to work for Superdry as I love the products and wanted to be part of, and make a difference to, something I am passionate about. The business administration apprenticeship really appealed to me as the skills I am learning are highly transferable, which will allow me to explore other departments and industries later in my career.

An overview of your apprenticeship

I am completing an apprenticeship in business administration at the Superdry Head Office in Cheltenham, with the educational element of my training provided by Gloucestershire College. I began my apprenticeship in May 2017, and am currently at the final stage of my Level 2 business administration qualification. I’ve very much enjoyed this course and the new skills I have learned, and have signed up to progress on to the Level 3 apprenticeship.

What does your apprenticeship involve?

A large part of my role is working with the Inventory Management Team in Finance. Here I manage cartons in transit for the United States, clear discrepancies and monitor store donations to Newlife.

I also work with the Energy and Environment Manager to monitor energy usage and our carbon footprint across the business. As part of this, I focus on reducing waste at Head Office by removing unneeded disposables from the café i.e. plastic straws and individual sugar packets. I also monitor staff usage of reusable coffee cups in the café and help to implement new ways of increasing usage to reduce waste.

Outside of my day-to-day role I am part of the Social Committee for Finance and Legal; last year I organised the Christmas meal and am helping to organise this year’s summer celebration at Battlesports.

I was nominated to be a SuperSay Champ and, as part of this, I am helping to make Superdry a better place to work for everyone in Finance using the results from the recent SuperSay survey. I have also been selected to take part in this year’s Million Makers challenge; an entrepreneurial fundraising challenge in which our team has to turn £1,500 into £10,000 in six months to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people through The Prince’s Trust.

What are your plans for when you finish?

The apprenticeship and training is all paid for by Superdry and they really care about our progression. I’ve learnt so many new skills and am really enjoying the projects I’m currently working on. I look forward to progressing on to the next level of my apprenticeship and would like to do more work in the environmental sector in the future.