Our South West apprentices - meet Jonny Hill

How did you first find out about your apprenticeship and what was the application process like?

I found out about it through the government website which has a whole host of apprenticeships at different levels and in a variety of sectors. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to go into, so this overview was really helpful. The application process was smooth, with the early stages online and then a face to face interview.

Tell us a bit more about your apprenticeship – what is your role and what is the day to day job like, how does your week usually look at the moment?

Day to day my role is pretty varied. I split the majority of my time between our customer enquiries team (who look after all correspondence coming into the South West) and an operational support team (who support the Traffic Officers and Control Room). A day a week is also set aside to progress work specifically for my apprenticeship. This can be practical or written.

What made you consider an apprenticeship and did you know much about them before you considered one?

I knew the style of learning suited me better as it’s a lot more hands on and involves learning through doing. My school was pretty university focussed so I didn’t know a whole lot about them but there was lots of information out there once I started looking into it. I could also see that there was a range of options, so I explore things in a work context before committing to something specific.

What’s your proudest moment so far in your apprenticeship?

It would probably be either helping to organise an Open Day for the region soon after I joined, or providing support during the ‘beast from the east’. These were both great examples of people with different expertise coming together to get things sorted which is always satisfying.

What would your advice be to anyone thinking about an apprenticeship with Highways England?

I’d definitely recommend looking into it. Highways England offers a range of opportunities from administration, to project management and more technical roles. There are so many areas of work and doing an apprenticeship is a good way of gaining exposure to lots of these before specialising.