As part of our Connected Women series Louise Mills talks us through her Unilever Higher Apprentice of the Year award. For more on Connected Women, join the conversation #CiscoCWW:
Well what can I say, last Thursday was quite a good day for me, passing my CCDP exam in the morning and then winning the Unilever Higher Apprentice of the Year award in the evening. In fact it was an excellent day!
My apprentice project manager, Robert Martin, wanted to nominate me for the award because of everything I have done over the course of the apprenticeship. The awards are run annually by the National Apprenticeship Service and has 2 stages – regionals then nationals. I completed the regional application online and to receive the shortlist email inviting me to the regional awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Swindon was a real surprise!
Louise Mills (Centre) with Karen Woodward, Deputy Director of the Skills Funding Agency (Left), and Sandra Kelly of Whitbread (Right)
The evening was very lavish starting off with a drinks reception followed by a 3 course meal, which went on for quite a while, and it very quickly got to the point where I just wanted to know the outcome. When they finally started announcing the awards my stomach was instantly in knots with nerves and anticipation. They got onto the award I was up for and read out the biography I had written for the award booklet; it was definitely weird listening back to what I had written. Then at last they announced the winner, and it was me! I had just won the Thames Valley Unilever Higher Apprentice of the Year award – wow! I went up and collected my award and obviously had a massive smile for the camera. I was so chuffed that I couldn’t really sleep that night.
To be shortlisted was incredible, but to win was absolutely amazing! When my name got announced, I was shocked that I had won. I have never won anything major so this was a real good feel factor. I didn’t have to give a thank you speech but suppose this could be part of it;
Cisco has been incredibly supportive throughout the whole apprenticeship, giving me exposure to many projects and a wide variety of work which enabled me to apply for the award. Everyone has been so willing to help despite them having hectic schedules so thank you all!
Winning the award means my application moves to the National stage. Trying to write an update to support my original application seems simple enough, but trying to keep it under the 300 word limit and come across with maximum effect is hard …really hard.
To be honest I’m still buzzing from the experience and still don’t quite believe what I have achieved.
Now I have fingers crossed that I can be short listed for Nationals. Hey ho let’s see what happens, I can only try my best 🙂
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