Paige joined us as an apprentice in 2015. We have established a successful path for apprentice career progression within the company, our training and development schedule has enabled us to employ apprentices in all our departments.

We find the scheme extremely beneficial, our apprentices work through a variety of roles, learning the warehouse system, freight forwarding, sales and operations, whilst studying and passing NVQ’s.

This hands on systems means we can identify their strengths and weaknesses to ensure they are supported and developed, and results in them working in the area of the business that is best suited to their individual skills, so it works well for both of us. We benefit from gaining a fully engaged and versatile employee, with a deep and rounded knowledge of our industry and our business, and the ability to link all the departments.

I started an apprenticeship at CRM Logistics Ltd (now TPS Global Logistics Ltd) in 2015. Having decided in the Christmas break of 2014 that I would not go back to the University of Reading where I was studying Primary Education with English Literature.

I wanted to get into employment and start working on my career opportunities, so I looked around for a job close to where I lived and I liked the idea of an apprenticeship to continue learning, gaining qualifications whilst working and learning office skills. At this point freight and logistics was new to me, not long after starting the job it was clear that I felt I fitted in and I had picked up the work pretty quickly. At this point CRM had around 11 members of staff and plans for expansion, so I could see that there was potential to grow with the company. For the first 3 months of the apprenticeship I was filing and loading files on the system for each department, learning the systems and the industry.

Within 6 months of working for the company I moved into the sea freight department, working with a member of the sales team who had previously handled sea freight, I picked it up quickly and after 12 month’s I had finished my apprenticeship. At which point I was asked whether I would like to complete the Certificate in Logistics and Transport Level 3, this 2 year course is the equivalent of a degree.

How has this apprenticeship scheme benefited you personally?

I have enjoyed progressing through the company, the team are very supportive and have encouraged me to push myself and take on more responsibility, this has boosted my confidence and although the last 12 months have been really busy, I feel I have been able to respond to all the challenges and demonstrate my skills, whilst learning first hand all the variables within the industry – most jobs are time critical and certain things like weather, delays and strikes are out of my hands, so managing customer expectations makes communication really important.

Fortunately, this is one of my strong areas, I enjoy working in logistics and especially sea freight, it is great when a file has been finished and the customer has received their goods in time for them to meet their deadline and keep the supply chain operating successfully.

The way my apprenticeship assessment worked running alongside my day to day responsibilities brought it to life and helped me to understand the TPS Global Logistics business model.