Green Careers Week @ LDN
This week is the first-ever Green Careers Week and we’re delighted to help celebrate it alongside some of our LDN Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentices and partners!
Green Careers Week aims to help entry-level talent get to grips with emerging technologies and careers that will change the world for the better.
As an accredited B Corp, this is something LDN Apprenticeships feel incredibly passionate about and we’re delighted to highlight some of the outstanding work and contributions our current CR&S apprentices are doing as champions of sustainability within their role.
We talked with apprentices about their experience so far as a CR&S apprentices and what sustainability means to them as well as their passion behind wanting to do an apprenticeship within CR&S.
What made you apply for the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability programme?
Kundai Valentine Murefu
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice
During my time in sixth form, I attended a week-long summer school programme at the University of Nottingham where I studied Sustainable Chemistry and that’s what initially sparked my interest in the topic. Since then I’ve kept up with the latest news on the subject, specifically concerning the fashion industry as they are a massive contributor to environmental and social issues.
I wanted to make the transition into a career that would allow me to make a difference in this sector and the CR&S programme was the perfect balance of growing my knowledge while gaining hands-on work experience surrounded by experts already in the industry.
Charlotte Poor
Quality Coordinator Apprentice
CR&S & ESG is something I am really passionate about. I really enjoy the learning and research side of things when it comes to developing knowledge on new and innovative ideas towards CR&S. By choosing to study the CR&S programme, will help to build the foundations, knowledge and tools, to work as CR&S professionals in many different industries.
Sumaya Ahmed Siddique
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice
I realised I was incredibly passionate about how products were made at a retail store I used to work at. This was because they had sustainability at their core, both on a social level and environmental level. I was able to explain to customers how these products came to be and it would excite me.
Through research, I realised how much I wanted to work in Sustainability but it was looking impossible to get into as you usually need a related University Degree in it or many years of experience to break into the industry.
When I suddenly came across the Apprenticeship, I was both shocked and excited and I just knew I had to apply!
We also talked to some line managers at the likes of AstraZeneca, 3Keel and Greengage Environmental to ask about their decision behind introducing a CR&S apprentice or upskilling existing talent in their teams and how apprentices have made an impact in their role already.
What was behind the decision-making process in hiring a Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability apprentice?
Sian Allen
Senior Consultant
At 3Keel, we're keen to diversify the range of entry routes into sustainability consulting and have a team who represents a wide range of different life experiences. LDN felt a natural fit in helping us meet this goal whilst providing support with the transition from school to the workplace for our apprentices.
Matt Shaughnessy
Head of Operations Sustainability
As well as recruiting a number of business leaders and subject matter experts in different aspects of CR&S, we are keen to build our talent pipeline in different ways.
Recruiting a CR&S apprentice enables us to do this, whilst also supporting someone on their leadership journey and enabling them to shape the future of CR&S at AstraZeneca.
What have you learnt since starting your Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability apprenticeship and what kind of projects are you working on in your role?
Kundai Valentine Murefu
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice
Since I began working at N Brown I have been responsible for submitting a monthly sustainability report, benchmarking circular business model opportunities, developing a sustainability training resource for all staff and designing a sustainability landing page to allow others to learn more about the sustainability team and access our useful resources.
Charlotte Poor
Quality Coordinator Apprentice
I have learnt the key factors and foundations to project management and strategy within CR&S. This has helped me to plan and execute projects in a professional and strategic manner.
My role encompasses many different areas of the business that fall into CR&S such as; Ethical and legal Compliance, Health and Safety, Recycling Projects, New Product Development and developing projects within the ESG committee.
Sumaya Ahmed Siddique
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice
The insights I have had have been incredible.
Thus far I have worked on numerous projects including two events – an early years alumni event and a youth roundtable, as well as data collecting for a reporting benchmark, and now I am working on research pieces to build up our strategy.
How has introducing a CR&S Apprentice into your team helped champion sustainability within the business and what kind of projects are they working on?
Sian Allen
Senior Consultant
Our experience in having Ellie as a CR&S apprentice has been fantastic. She has already been instrumental in a number of different projects involving collecting data from retail suppliers on the sustainable sourcing of palm oil and timber as well as presenting this back to clients.
Ellie has also done some great work in helping us to work more sustainably as a team, through introducing 'focus Wednesdays', which have recently overwhelmingly been voted as a lasting feature of the 3Keel weekly routine, as well as a buddy programme for those new to 3Keel.
Matt Shaughnessy
Head of Operations Sustainability
Introducing a CR&S Apprentice to my team is helping bring a new perspective to our sustainability efforts. Elishia is working on a wide range of business projects, helping us to further improve employee wellbeing, corporate reporting and manage the risks associated with climate change.
Richard Hillyard
Principle Consultant
As a sustainability consultancy, we saw the apprenticeship as a way to help develop our team and help them improve and gain additional skills to support the sustainability work we do.
The kind of projects we have had our apprentices support and deliver are with client carbon baseline calculations across scopes 1, 2, and 3. In addition, working with our clients to establish net zero pathways and science-based targets commitments.
For more information about our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability programme, click here!