Apollo Celebrates its Rising Stars

Apollo Roofing is celebrating the success of its apprenticeship programme with permanent appointments and new apprentices joining the team.

L-R Apollo apprentices, Georgia Cox, Ellie Jackson, Leon Mogano and Hasan Haideri.

Since the apprenticeship scheme was introduced in 2015, Apollo has worked with six young people, three have now become full time employees, one has moved on to pursue other things and two are busy completing their courses.

Sam Lawson was Apollo’s first apprentice and has been a permanent member of the engineering team since 2019 and is now a pipe fitter.

Ellie Jackson and Hasan Haideri joined Apollo as Laboratory Technician apprentices studying a BTEC Level 3 Laboratory Technician qualification in conjunction with Cogent Skills. They completed their course in March and are now fully-fledged members of the Apollo Technical Team.

Ellie and Hasan both originally turned down university places in favour of an apprenticeship to avoid debt and get on the career ladder sooner.

Hasan said: “It’s been the best experience I’ve ever had. I was nervous about it at first, joining and not knowing anyone, but I didn’t need to worry. Everyone at Apollo is friendly and I was welcomed into the team from day one. I would recommend going down this route to anyone. I’d definitely do it all again.”

Ellie added: “It’s been great working alongside experienced professionals and I’ve really appreciated their support and guidance to help me achieve my qualification.”

Leon Mogano is now following in Ellie and Hasan’s footsteps and started his BTEC Level 3 Laboratory Technician qualification at the being of June. He spends 80% of his time learning on the job at Apollo and the remaining time via on-line learning with Youth Force. Leon said: “I always knew I wanted to go down this route. I started at college doing an engineering course and soon found that it wasn’t for me. I looked around for something new to do and came across Apollo. Making the change was the best thing I did. I’m only a few weeks into the apprenticeship but loving it. The support is amazing and I’m looking forward to developing my skills and hopefully joining the team at the end of the course.”

Under the guidance of Karen Savery, Apollo’s Commercial Finance Manager, Georgia Cox recently completed her Level 3 AAT Accounting qualification and has now progressed onto a three-year ACCA level 7 Accounting and Taxation course. Like Leon, she spends 80% of her time at Apollo and the rest of the time learning online.

For Georgia, her apprenticeship has confirmed that accountancy is her future. She said; “I’d looked at a few different accountancy apprenticeships, but Apollo’s stood out because it promised a broad range of experience not just working on tax issues. I researched the company and when I visited the offices the atmosphere was very welcoming. I’m loving my time with Apollo and hope that they will keep me on when I’ve finished my course.”

Karen said: “Georgia has made a significant contribution to the finance team and is a pleasure to have around. She is keen to learn and takes on tasks with enthusiasm. I’m confident that Georgia will continue to be a great asset to the team and look forward to supporting her as she grows in her career.”

Apollo Managing Director, Ian Cornelius, said: “When recruiting we are always looking for people who are passionate about their chosen careers and we developed our apprenticeship programme to provide us with another recruitment avenue to do just that.

“It’s a two-way process, we are able to support the apprentices in their chosen field by providing on the job training, which in turn grows talent and develops a motivated, skilled and qualified workforce. Ultimately, we believe that our apprenticeship programme can support our succession planning and help to future-proof our business.”

Find out more about career opportunities here: https://www.apolloroofingsolutions.co.uk/about/careers