June Apprentice of the Month
Rahath Ahmed
We are happy to announce the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Rahath Ahmed, Information Communications Technician Apprentice @ London Borough of Harrow.
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach Anton, Rahath has made a huge impression and has got his apprenticeship studies off to a flying start!
Rahath has made a huge impression and is off to a flying start with his apprenticeship studies and is described as dedicated, ambitious and growth-orientated by his line manager.
Check out all of the awesome nominations we received in June, as well as Rahath's winning nomination below.
Rahath’s Skills Coach:
Rahath works for the London Borough of Harrow and he has made a huge impression and started his apprenticeship studies with an amazing flying start. Rahath started his first day with a willingness to learn new concepts and he is constantly eager and hungry to learn more knowledge. He is always punctual for every session planned, asks very good probing questions and completes his learning modules in Thinkific, Pluralsight training and journals as well as his training plan within the timescale that was agreed. Rahath strives for excellence in his work and he continuously demonstrates excellent professionalism in the workplace and when he attends my coaching sessions. According to his line manager Darren, Rahath works hard under pressure, is very polite, grows from strenght to strengh and gets along very well with his colleagues and customers and persists on staying ahead on closing as many support tickets as possible. His work performance is outstanding and this is evident in his project work, learning journal write-ups and completing his training plan.
Rahath’s Line Manager:
How have they improved/impacted the business and the team since they started their apprenticeship?
Rahath has had a significant impact to us as a council IT team by bringing fresh perspectives, new ideas, and a willingness to learn and adapt. Apprenticeships, such as those offered at Harrow Council provide a structured learning path with monthly workshops and on-the-job training, allowing apprentices to immediately apply their knowledge and improve their performance, Rahath has really grasped the apprenticeship learning process and turned in his work on time and with no fuss. He hasnt faltered in his outputs despite us putting pressure on him at a time and has become a well-respected, polite and pleasant member of our team. Having Rahath on the team has improved our age diversity and contributed to our multi-faith and multi-national team mix.
What three words best describe them?
I would say they are dedicated, ambitious, and growth-oriented, considering their commitment to the apprenticeship program.
An example of an outstanding piece of work, project or task they have worked on.
Rahath has been building devices and deploying them to users, so full end to end white glove experience. He is utilising the Microsoft portals to review devices, assign users to groups so is starting to understand the processes for Harrow ensuring that the security of devices and data is at the forefront of his service delivery. We have already had positive customer satisfaction survey responses that positively commend Rahath's work.
Our runner-up for this month is Business Administration Apprentice, Deborah! Deborah was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Yasser, with feedback provided by the team at Kaplan.
Deborah’s Skills Coach:
Deborah has quickly grasped the work she needs to complete for her apprenticeship. This includes a range of tasks on her training plan, her journals and also work on her 1st assignment. Deborah is keen to receive feedback and wants to learn and better herself by being proactive and has asked questions throughout. The confidence has also grown which is great to see and this has been from being settled and being more knowledgable. Emily and I have also received some excellent feedback from a senior manager at Kaplan on how Deborah has settled into her role.
Deborah’s line manager:
Deborah joined the team during an exceptionally busy period and demonstrated remarkable flexibility with the training provided. When the team was occupied with work or in meetings, Deborah effectively utilized this time to read process documents, write up her notes, and practice with the systems. Her efficient use of this time significantly contributed to her quick adaptation.
Deborah has rapidly become a reliable team member. I have not hesitated to assign her new tasks. Once shown how to perform a task, she asks pertinent questions that enable her to work independently and efficiently, thereby alleviating pressure on the wider team.
Here’s what was said about the other brilliant nominees:
Asim Saleemi @ West London Zone:
Asim has developed his basic knowledge of Salesforce through modules he’s been covering but also by taking the initiative to look into aspects of Salesforce he’s seen or read about to expand his knowledge further. This increase in knowledge shows through in his confidence when delivering support to others at AllChild, explaining the technical reasons why something may have occurred, straight away understanding any proposed solutions with in-depth knowledge and offering his own solutions. Not just my team, but everyone else who interacts with Asim is already reaping the benefits of involvement in the LDN apprenticeship.
Lauren Cole @ Avara Foods:
Since starting the apprenticeship and joining the business, Lauren has been involved in a number of areas. Building her knowledge and understanding of the business, the meat industry and sustainability. It is clear that she wants to make a difference to improve the current processes and as a result the wider environment. Lauren has continued to progress with the work we have already started, specifically, our carbon accounting, where she has been involved in calculating the Scope 1,2&3 Carbon Footprints. Lauren has also started to drive work in water, where she has been undertaking a water risk mapping project.
Amanda McBowers @ CHP:
Amanda’s confidence is improving month on month. She brings back what she’s learnt from her course and shares it with the team, suggesting new ideas for how we can work more effectively, using technology to streamline processes. Amanda looked into the use of a website that creates step-by-step process guides with screenshots and instructions as you go through the process on your screen. We are implementing a new recruitment process and system currently and this software more than halves the time it would be taking us to create procedure documents.
Lola Randall @ University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust:
The apprenticeship has given Lola the time, space, and motivation to explore. As a team, we tend to rely on the same methods and technologies for every project because we don’t have time to stop and look up. Lola is naturally inquisitive and passionate about improvement, so she’s really flourished since starting her apprenticeship. In the past few months, Lola has been inspired to explore new ways of approaching eLearning projects and she’s come up with some fantastic ideas and discovered new technologies which have hugely benefited the team.
Amy Mitchell @ Pearson:
Amy started her Apprenticeship about 9 months ago to support her development in the role of Content Developer, and what a remarkable 9 months it has been! In such a short time, Amy has left an indelible imprint on our team, she is like a whirlwind of positive change. She absolutely embodies our core values and her dynamic presence and infectious energy have ignited significant growth within our team and have notably elevated the quality of what we deliver to our valued customers. Amy's impact on the business has been nothing short of extraordinary. Beyond her professional expertise, Amy is a radiant and cheerful individual, projecting positivity that uplifts the spirits and energises those fortunate enough to be in her presence, whether they are team members or learners. She possesses a genuine passion for learning and serves as an exemplary advocate for those around her, really leaving an enduring mark on those she works with.
Ella Corsan @ Bloomsbury Publishing Plc:
Ella very quickly became an invaluable member of the M&P team soon after she joined us. Right from the start, Ella immediately got stuck into her role and impressed colleagues, external stakeholders and me with her enthusiasm, can-do attitude and drive to succeed and deliver the best work that she can for the whole team. She takes new processes in her stride to benefit the team – recently, we adopted a new media database and Ella quickly and efficiently got to grips with the new system in record speed to support the whole team!
Craig Edwards @ Evolve:
Craig joined the team six months ago and has made a positive impact on the business. He has picked things up quickly and has alleviated stress from other team members through his work as a first-line technician, he is thorough in his work and follows processes well, he is hitting his targets and he brings fresh energy to the team. Craig has set a high benchmark for future apprentices. And we see him having a successful career in this industry.
Muhammad Valli @ ProspectAware Ltd:
Since Muhammed started his apprenticeship, he has been involved in a few roles in the business, he has gone from the more data building/administration role to the sales role he has taken up today. He had done so well with the previous role we promoted him to a calling role due to the amount of potential he showed in a short space of time. He has really taken to the calling role and has made the whole sales function his operation whether that's through LinkedIn promotion or calling. He has made over 100 sales appointments for the founder of the business (Amar) in the past 4 months to conduct 30-minute introductions as well as follow-ups, which has supported the sales cycle for the business and helped us bring in new business. This is a very rare occurrence for someone who never had sales experience prior to joining the company. With his help, we have been able to close 2 opportunities this month and have created a solid pipeline for Amar to win more business for us.