July Apprentice of the Month - Lara Luker
We are happy to announce that the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Lara Luker @ Adam Matthew!
Nominated by Lead LDN Creative Skills Coach, Helen - Lara is a member of our LDN Class Reps and has been a huge part of making LDN Apprenticeships an even better experience for all of our Lvl3 Publishing apprentices!
We received some awesome feedback from Lara’s line manager Rosie Threlfall as well as the other brilliant nominees, which you can read below!
Lara’s Skills Coach:
Lara is extremely conscientious, always reviewing what she is doing, and trying to understand if she can do better. Earlier in the apprenticeship, she had to take plenty of feedback from both her line manager Rosie and from me, when everything was so new, and she has learned to reflect well on this, and question herself so that she can improve, and so she has improved too very much.
Lara has always been keen to share her experiences at work, and keen to present for us at the Live Sessions. More recently this has evolved too into becoming a joint class rep for the cohort, and everyone at LDN will have seen just how fantastic she has been in sharing ideas both around publishing and mental health. She has also got involved in volunteering at her company (which she shared with us - this was featured in the LDN Newsletter) and in helping organise social events both for fellow apprentices and at work.
Lara works hard on all her apprenticeship work, keeping on top of her targets. In the last two coaching sessions, I have scored her a 10, as I feel she is doing everything she can. Lara meanwhile scores herself only a 7 still, as she feels she has such a way to go! Much as I am keen for her to edge that up, it does reflect just how much she constantly strives to do better.
Lara’s Line Manager
Energy:
Lara has been working across a range of different projects, all with different requirements of her, but she’s done an amazing job at keeping up with everything and takes on new tasks with a smile. She’s an active participant in a company and department life, taking on additional responsibilities such as being a fire warden as well as volunteering with social events such as our jubilee celebrations.
Enthusiasm:
Lara shows enthusiasm for all the projects she works on. In team meetings she brings interesting items she’s found during her work for the team to discuss, as well as sharing observations and anecdotes in our Teams chat, contributing to morale and a sense of team spirit. She recently presented in our department meeting about her experience as an apprentice. This presentation was very well received and got the rest of the team very interested in the apprenticeship programme and what it offers.
Willingness To Learn:
She has shown a great propensity for taking on new and unfamiliar tasks and putting in a lot of hard work and energy to fully understand the tasks and the objectives involved. Her enthusiasm has particularly shined through on our Victorians on Film resource through her background research – a testament to her willingness to learn.
Ability To Take Feedback:
You never feel worried about giving Lara feedback, as she takes it very well and always sees the learning opportunity. I have been really pleased with the evidence of Lara taking feedback onboard, for example following some feedback she was successful in rewriting some copy to better suit the writing style we needed for the published resource.
Propensity To Take Action:
Lara listens carefully to instructions and always asks excellent questions if unsure about anything, reflecting her proactive approach to her work.
An example of an outstanding piece of work or task Lara has completed:
I would like to flag her dedication to our review of film content in our Victorians on Film resource from a diversity and representation perspective. This work has been invaluable and has directly informed our diversity and representation strategy for the resource.
Our runner-up for this month is Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprentice Oluwatoyin Komolafe! Toyin was nominated by her LDN Skills Coach, Alex, with feedback provided by her team at Future Science Group.
Toyin’s Skills Coach:
Toyin has developed as a professional a huge amount in the last 6 months – I am consistently impressed with her work ethic, willingness to take on feedback and learn, and commitment to the role and her apprenticeship.
In terms of ‘Playing your role’, she has exceeded my expectations – she is a joy to work with and contributes to the welcoming and capable perception of the CP team.
She is always happy to help her colleagues and consistently takes ownership of her tasks, delivering them to the highest standard she is able to. She also set a great example to other staff members, who would do well to model their behaviour on her own.
I have also seen her confidence improve massively and she is able to start applying her experience to problem-solving. She is always keen and enthusiastic to grow and develop and is an absolute pleasure to coach.
Toyin’s line manager:
I know when I’m in a catch-up with Toyin because I come out of it with my cheeks hurting from smiling so much! She is so warm and bubbly, and is always so positive when speaking about either her studies or work projects.
Toyin is a joy to have in the team, and always goes the extra mile to deliver a great project that she can be proud of. She works incredibly hard, taking ownership of the projects she is responsible for and always eager to get things done ahead of schedule.
In our weekly catch-ups, Toyin is always the first to refer back to how she is progressing on her objectives, and it has been a joy to witness her confidence increase as she increases her skill and knowledge.
She is so keen to work that she has set herself the ambitious target of completing her apprenticeship in less than a year!
Here’s what was said about the other nominees:
Muhammad Rob @ euNetworks:
Muhammad has been a breathe of fresh air from the first day he started. Our sales team works at an incredibly fast pace and Muhammad was able to work at that pace straight away.
He has far exceeded any of our expectations and he is the best Apprentice I have ever come across and he should be immensely proud of the impact he is having within our organisation.
Rachel Buss @ BMJ:
Rachel was on-site for our first face-to-face International Forum since the pandemic last month. Over 2300 people attended, from more than 30 countries.
Rachel was part of our front-of-house registration team and continued to maintain a high level of professionalism during busy periods. I was so pleased to see her take away further learnings that she can bring to future events.
Macie Thorne @ Pension Services Corporation:
Macie continues to have an energetic approach to learning new skills to help develop her career. Macie recently completed an advanced excel training course to help with developing her IT audit skills (to learn data analytics). Macie then shared the training material with the team internally which was really helpful for us all.
Alice Lavender @ The Dispute Service:
From day one of being with us, Alice’s bubbly personality shone through earning her the admiration of her colleagues and many awards at various events for the biggest smile!
Alice came into the business as an apprentice a since then has developed within the company to her current role. Alice doesn’t just have her day job though, she is part of many groups including the Diversity Working Group, Fundraising Committee, and Events Organiser alongside myself.
Rohan Patel @ Bates Wells:
From the very first day Rohan has taken on every task he as been assigned with great enthusiasm. He has become an important part of the Team and in such a short time has earned the respect of his colleagues and his peers. As his manager I am often given compliments about the way he deals with people and problems and in a professional manner.
Louis Garrington @ Great Ape Digital:
Louis shows to have a great level of energy, he is punctual and often works through his breaks researching areas of online marketing. He recently passed his Google Ads exams Display, Search and Shopping, he continues to question client performance in a very constructive way.
Serhat Kara @ Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan:
Coming from very different working background, technology in general is new to Serhat. From learning mobile device remote management, to getting an understanding of computer network, Serhat has shown keen interest and willingness to enable himself to be more independent with helping out users.
Alfie Meader @ AlignJV:
Whilst in his day-to-day work, Alfie shows a calm professionalism, he displays real energy in his involvement with community engagement – for example, in helping to paint a local school. And outside work, Alfie has quickly established himself as an active part of our social activities.
He’s usually to be found at the heart of a humorous conversation amongst colleagues and offers encouragement and celebration in our online discussions.
Alfie had to hit the ground running in this job, challenging colleagues on their compliance, and has done this remarkably well, working to high standards.