Meet the Apprentices - Meet Alana Hutchinson, Norwich City Council

Each day during #NAW2020 we will be introducing you to inspirational apprentices and rising stars, working in Local Government in the East of England, who blaze their own trail.

During my final year at school, I struggled to decide my future career path would be and it seemed as though everyone had already figured theirs out. I knew I did not want to go to university so I decided to look into apprenticeships in my area. At first it was quite difficult to find one that suited me, this was until I saw that local councils in my area offered them. This suited me perfectly as I had previously done work experience with a council before and enjoyed it immensely.

Previously, I was undertaking A-Levels and once I had finished them I applied to become an apprentice and have been working at Norwich City Council since October 2019. I would definitely recommend an apprenticeship to anyone considering it. When I first started back in October, I was overwhelmed with how friendly and welcoming my colleagues were and they helped me settle in very quickly into my role.

For me personally, I believe apprenticeships help a lot with career development and progression, you not only get to learn on the job but you also are able to obtain a qualification while doing it. My best advice for those who would consider undertaking an apprenticeship is to make sure you plan the study days out week by week.

My career hopes for the future would definitely still be centred around being involved in local government as I feel that it offers a wider range of career paths over other organisations and companies. I would possibly like to be involved an advanced registration role or involved in Human Resources.

Apprenticeships give the opportunity to look beyond traditional routes into employment and allow you to explore a diverse range of career options in local government and beyond. Our #NAW2020 feature provides just a small taster of the true value that an apprenticeship can bring, to both individuals, local authorities and the wider community in the East of England.