September Apprentice of the Month
Gavin Henderson
We are very pleased to announce the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month for September is Gavin Henderson, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Apprentice @ Link Impact Services.
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach Devina, Gavin has scooped up this award just three months into his apprenticeship, which shows he is off to a flying start!
In such a short time, Gavin has already carried out social value activities which have benefitted the local community and allowed the business to strengthen their CR&S activity.
Check out all the awesome nominations we received in September and Gavin's fantastic winning nomination below.
Gavin’s Skills Coach:
Gavin has only been part of the apprenticeship for a short time, yet he has already made an incredibly positive impact. This is the first time I will be nominating someone for Apprentice of the Month at such an early stage!
Coming from a completely different professional background, Gavin has embraced this opportunity with wonderful enthusiasm. He has taken the initiative from day one, diving headfirst into social impact work and seeking out every possible way to contribute to the communities he serves. His dedication has been evident through his involvement in a wide range of projects, from supporting young people by leading career workshops in schools helping them broaden their opportunities, to rolling up his sleeves and working hands-on to improve local community spaces. His proactive approach has already made a tangible difference in the lives of those he is working with.
Gavin's resilience and problem-solving ability have stood out the most. Despite facing barriers that might have slowed others down, he has consistently found creative and effective solutions to ensure his learning and growth aren't hindered. Gavin has been consistent in the delivery of his apprenticeship work and his engagement in learning in the face of technical barriers. His determination to succeed, no matter the challenges, has been nothing short of inspiring, and it’s clear that he has a bright future ahead.
Gavin’s Line Manager:
How have they improved/impacted the business and the team since they started their apprenticeship?
Gavin has made a concerted effort to create strong relationships with other colleagues in the business. He has championed the benefits of volunteering through conversations with his colleagues and has already done various social value activities, which have benefitted the local community and allowed the business to strengthen their CR&S activity.
What three words best describe them?
Conscientious – Gavin is always keen to complete any tasks on time and accurately. For example, he recently created 50 Social Value Plan & Performance Reports and carried out the task efficiently, accurately and on time. Gavin is very aware of representing the business in a professional yet personable manner and presents himself very well – always wearing the appropriate uniform and PPE and liaising with people in a way which puts people at ease.
Thoughtful – Gavin is an emotionally intelligent person and has worked with young people in schools in a very thoughtful way, showing empathy and emotional maturity in his conversations with the young people.
Organised – Gavin is a good communicator and able to organise his own tasks and events proactively. For example, he recently took part in a beach clean day with seven colleagues and was able to effectively communicate with the team, organising transport, timings and paperwork completion.
An example of an outstanding piece of work, project or task they have worked on.
Gavin is currently working on delivering social value commitments for Newcastle City Council and has proved himself to be capable of proactively seeking out opportunities, carrying out activities and planning for future activities. I have been impressed with the recent school work he did when he carried out mock interviews at a secondary school. He was self-assured and carried out the task with enthusiasm and great interest. He has identified working with young people as something he is very interested in going forward. He took the time to talk to the pupils at their own level and provided them with constructive feedback. He attended the event with a colleague, and they car-shared and worked as a team to take photos and provide content back to our marketing team.
Our runner-up for this month is Publishing Assistant Apprentice Mariam Williams! Mariam was nominated by LDN Skills Coach Helen, with feedback provided by the team at Pan Macmillan.
Mariam’s Skills Coach:
Mariam started the apprenticeship enthusiastically but with so much to learn, having come from a health role in the NHS, so she couldn’t have been much further from marketing fiction paperbacks. Yet Mariam has adapted to the role so smoothly and with such great results, it’s hard to believe how short a time she has been at Pan Macmillan. Month by month, she has grown in confidence, and the feedback from work is superb - she is getting great responses to her marketing efforts in email campaigns and social media and even coming up with her own competition idea. Her colleagues are delighted, and the stats are impressive, with many campaigns seeing much more engagement than would be expected for any marketer, never mind someone new to the role! Mariam has not been afraid to embrace all the new systems (of which there are many!) but also to experiment to good effect with AI. Mariam’s enthusiasm and determination to meet or beat deadlines meant she occasionally rushed a piece, but with steering from her line manager Andy, she took on board the feedback straight away and made the necessary improvements. Just recently, Andy sent me more feedback he was thrilled to share from an author about Mariam’s work: ‘I do many of these types of videos. This is the best quality I’ve seen produced with a single camera. And the editing is excellent.’
On the apprenticeship, Mariam has worked determinedly and systematically, always slightly ahead of deadlines and delivering good quality pieces of work, evidencing an ever-growing competence and proficiency. She attends group sessions enthusiastically and is always prepared to speak up. She takes the apprenticeship seriously, wanting to learn just as much as she can. I am thoroughly impressed with Mariam’s development over the last few months, both in the workplace and on the apprenticeship front.
Mariam’s line manager:
Mariam has been a ball of energy in every digital marketing area she has been a part of at Pan Macmillan. She has covered three of the core areas so far: Metadata, Email Marketing, Social Media and Influencer Marketing, and has excelled in all of them - all different from each other with different platforms (both internal and external) and algorithms to master! In each specialism, she has offered creativity, a 'can do' attitude, and a critical-thinking approach to any challenges thrown her way. Aside from this, Mariam has given each team more time and space to focus on those projects that are always there, but we never seem to get around to while delivering on all fronts for her role and her apprenticeship, and each team values her fresh perspectives to our approach.
Here’s what was said about the other brilliant nominees:
Laura Medhurst @ Ufton Court Educational Trust:
Although Laura joined the team with little prior Salesforce experience, she has quickly adapted and made significant contributions to several projects. Her work has involved setting up user profiles, managing objects, and generating reports—all of which are essential to our charity's successful use of Salesforce. Her strong commitment to learning and growth has already had a positive impact on both the team and the organisation. She recognises the transformative potential Salesforce holds for our charity and has been diligent in driving its successful implementation across the organisation.
Olivia Gewitzke @ Walk In Media:
Liv has been learning how to use TV buying systems and, each month, helps the team with programme analysis. This consists of speaking to suppliers such as ITV and Channel 4, getting a list of programmes that will be on-air for the month ahead, finding them in the system, and then analysing their performance history against our trading and reporting audiences. This is an important piece of work, as buying into the correct programme environments guarantees our target audiences will see our client’s adverts on TV. When we’re dealing with clients who spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on advertising each month, it’s crucial this work is accurate. So, trusting Liv with this is a testament to the progress she’s made since joining the team.
Kayleigh Johnson @ Bentley:
Since Kayleigh started this apprenticeship, I have been able to see a significant shift in her approach to designing learning solutions for colleagues here at Bentley. She is so much more aware now of the key elements required to really create something impactful and focuses more on learning outcomes rather than just creating content. It is easy sometimes to just create without questioning why, but Kayleigh has so much more confidence now in her own ability that she’s able to ask the right questions of those subject matter experts or leaders who want the training developed. This helps both the business and our team internally by ensuring the learning solutions she creates really add value and consider learner requirements.
Shaleen Rao @ Warner Bros Discovery:
Shaleen is our ray of sunshine. Right away, she fitted perfectly into our team and made such positive connections. Her eagerness to learn and take on responsibility right away was a breath of fresh air. She is such a strong support within grocery accounts and to the wider UK Home Ents and Games Sales and Marketing team. Her attention to detail and understanding of our business has allowed her to be a great support, and she has been able to identify a good work-life balance while completing her apprenticeship work alongside her day job.