A small but mighty team of apprentices at Adopstar, a Cullompton-based company that is making waves in ad operations and the media and marketing industry, has been praised by a prominent politician.
Adopstar, an ad operations, media and marketing specialist, received a visit from Robert Halfon, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education, during National Apprenticeship Week. Mr Halfon was impressed by the company’s achievements and the quality of its apprentices, who range from level two to master’s level seven.
Mr Halfon explained his reasons for dropping into Cullompton : “I’ve come here because this is an incredible company, and they’ve won awards for being leading apprenticeship employers, and they have some excellent independent training providers as well. I wanted to come and learn how on earth they did it.
“It’s a small business, but it’s an example of a small business utilising the apprenticeship offerings. If you have met some of the apprentices here, they’re outstanding. You’ve got all different levels, from digital marketing to management. I spoke with them, and we showed them a new government campaign called Skills for Life, and as they’re all experts, we’ve got all their views on it as well.”
Mr Halfon also highlighted the advantages of apprenticeships for both individuals and employers.
He said: “Apprenticeships are massive; they get you on the ladder of opportunity. You earn while you learn, you get a good skill. 93% of apprentices who complete get good jobs, usually in the organisations that have employed them; that’s incredible. We have over 690 different occupations. 70% of all jobs or professions are covered by an apprenticeship.
“In the old days, apprentices were focused on traditional crafts or trades, and they were just a few months long. Now, you can do an apprenticeship in anything from aeronautical to zoology, journalism, media, legal policing, health service, and digital marketing, as many of them are doing here. You can do a huge range of apprenticeships from level two to master’s level seven. To me, it’s a no-brainer. If you are looking for a good skill and want to know that if you complete that apprenticeship, you have a huge chance of getting a good skilled job, it’s the best thing you could do.”
Theresa Benson, managing director of Adopstar, said she was delighted to host Mr Halfon and share the company’s story.
She said: “We won the highly commended award at the National Apprenticeship Awards in London in November, and we were spoken to by one of the Department of Education to say that Robert was looking to do a tour and would be interested in hosting him. We told them we would love to. We’d met him several times, and he showed great interest in what we were doing down here with our apprenticeship scheme. They contacted us and said they wanted to bring him down, and the rest is history.
“I think that he was so engaged with the apprentices. He listened to everything that they had to say, and he has got such a great memory. I think he will take what he’s heard, and look at how he can improve the apprenticeship scheme in the UK.”
Ms Benson added that apprenticeships were vital for the growth and culture of Adopstar, which started hiring apprentices in 2016 and now has 24 of them.
She said: “Apprenticeships here at Adopstar are massive, and they’ve helped grow our business. We’ve now got a head of training, and everybody that comes here has to go through an apprenticeship scheme so that we can teach them the skills because what we do is so unique. If it weren’t for the apprenticeship scheme, we wouldn’t have the business we’ve got today.
“Many of the apprentices have become senior ad ops executives. Some have become team leaders, and one has become head of operations, overseeing everything that happens underneath me. If they want to push themselves, we will support them and continue to support them.
“It’s not just that staff can come here and do one apprenticeship and that’s it; we’ve had staff that have done two apprenticeships, three apprenticeships, and are looking to move on to their fourth apprenticeship. We’ve also got staff now doing degrees, which are three- to four-year courses, and we will support them through that.
“I think if you’ve got the desire to learn a skill, then apprenticeships are the way to go. We’ve had staff come in at 16 and 17 years old, and we’ve had staff join us at 40 with a complete career change. If you speak to any of them, they will all turn around and say it’s the best thing they ever did.”
Ms Benson also attributed the company’s success to its inclusive and diverse culture. She said: “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing but tweak it a little to improve it where possible.
“The success is all down to culture. You have to be there for your staff and do everything for them, and they will do everything back for you. Everybody belongs here at Adopstar. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter what your abilities or disabilities are; the more diverse our company is, the better because we all learn by it and thrive by it.”
Some of the apprentices who met Mr Halfon shared their experiences and aspirations.
Zoe Shand, aged 22, an ad op senior and a former apprentice, said: “I’ve been here for two years now. I’m in charge of a couple of clients, and I help with the queue work if they email in any requests. I also take on any new tasks and anything that might be a bit out of the way than usual.
“Doing an apprenticeship here was a leap from working in retail before I took on this apprenticeship. I came to the company because it was an interesting new role, and I’d never taken on anything like that before. Since I’ve been here, I hope that I’ve been soaring. The apprenticeship has helped me get into the mindset of learning again, especially after being out of learning for a little bit.
“It’s helped develop my skills and also opened my mind a little bit to new avenues coming up, whether I want to take a new path or whether I want to stay where I am.
“For those considering an apprenticeship, go for it; you can’t lose anything.”
Josh Elliot, aged 20, an ad op who has just finished his apprenticeship and is working to become a senior, said: “I was unsure of what I wanted to do, so coming here was the best of both worlds for me. I didn’t know if I wanted to go to work or wanted to go to uni, but I can do both here and being paid doesn’t hurt either.
“Now that I’ve finished my apprenticeship, I need to look into what I can do progression-wise. Staying here with the company is a good option. There’s much progression, and I can go up the ladder. Otherwise, I’m qualified in digital marketing now, which opens doors.
“Unlike going to university, this was good because there was less risk. You hear of people going to uni; they study two or three years, rack up their student debt and don’t even follow the career they’ve studied. For some people, that’s fine, but I was not prepared to make that jump. Being able to take a year out, work a bit, build up a CV, build up a career, understand who I am in terms of working life, and learn on the job was wonderful.”
Louise Dawe-Smith, aged 19, who finished her apprenticeship in December, said: “I was supposed to go to uni in September but decided that wasn’t for me with student debt and all the lectures and leaving home. Then I found Adopstar, and I applied and got through my apprenticeship.
“My confidence has grown immensely. All my skills, people, and general work skills have been great to learn. I want to stay with the company and potentially do another apprenticeship. For me, the progression in the industry has been so helpful, and the insight into what an actual business is has been so helpful.”
Olivia Borden, aged 24, who has done two apprenticeships at Adopstar, said: “Apprenticeships open up your confidence so much in getting on the telephone, email etiquette and more. It’s opened up much progression for me as I’m now the ad ops assistant team leader.
“I was thinking about opening up to do another apprenticeship in team leadership or something like that towards the end of the year. I’ve grown a lot with the company and seen how it has moved over the last ten years.
“Apprenticeships are amazing as they allow young people to get a career they can progress in. There are so many different courses open to you that the learning never stops.”