Welcome Hannah,
Hannah joined DAN Shipping in October 2022 to complete her apprenticeship in Business Administration. Here, she shares her journey to choosing to be an apprentice and the support and growth she is receiving at DAN Shipping.
Let’s start at the beginning. After school did you decide to do an apprenticeship straight away?
I decided to go to college first from the ages of 16 – 18 and studied Health and Social Care once I’d completed that I went into full-time work before deciding to apply for my apprenticeship at DAN Shipping.
So, you went to college and studied Health and Social Care but then decided to do an apprenticeship in the Maritime Industry. Why is that?
After college and working full-time for a year in a healthcare role, I knew that career path wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to go into studying again for 2 or 3 years like the university offered so I chose an apprenticeship instead. To help me find what I wanted to change my career path to, I took advantage of the college resources around me and learned what stood out to me that way. Straight away I took a liking to a Business and Administration apprenticeship and DAN Shipping was one of the first places I came across when applying.
DAN Shipping stood out to me right away. A few days after applying, I was contacted to come in for an interview. I was thrilled and the interview process went great, everyone was so welcoming, and I could see that doing an apprenticeship at DAN Shipping would mean thorough support and resources to help me throughout my journey.
You’ve been an apprentice at DAN Shipping for over a year now. How have they supported you throughout your career journey so far?
Whilst working and studying at DAN Shipping, my colleagues and line manager have been so supportive in ensuring I feel comfortable within the team. They make sure I have the time schedule to be able to complete my workload before any deadlines and they continue to provide me with the correct and proper training and resources needed to complete my apprenticeship.
So, as an apprentice, what does your day-to-day schedule look like?
The first thing I do in my day is check my emails. This is crucial as I can then respond to any queries that have been sent or forward them to those who need to reply. I will then spend time entering invoices for different vessels into the system, this links in with completing the Final Disbursement Accounts.
It’s Apprenticeship Week. What advice would you give to school leavers deciding on the future?
My advice for any school leavers looking at after-school options is to know what industry you’d like to go into. Apprenticeships let you not only study for the industry you have chosen but also gives you real-life experience as to what it is like. You gain both the qualification and experience of the job. At the end of your apprenticeship, you can be assured that you will have the knowledge of how the job works but also the confidence of knowing you can do it.
Finally, what are your future goals after completing your apprenticeship?
Once I’ve completed my apprenticeship with DAN Shipping, I’m looking forward to continuing my journey here and building my progression through higher apprenticeships and courses.
Inspired by Hannah’s journey to an apprenticeship? Take a look here for new roles.
