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National Apprenticeship Week 2021

Here at MVIS, alongside sister company Bartco UK, we take every opportunity to be able to celebrate our incredibly talented workforce.  National Apprentice Week 2021 brings us the chance to boast about our younger team members. 

Our retention of apprentices is impeccable, and we are lucky enough to say that we have continuously had at least one apprentice in our team since 2013!  Dom Bridge, our first apprentice, who joined at 18 years old, has been developing his skills constantly during his employment with MVIS, qualifying last year as an Operations Manager.

From training new staff to ensuring that our customers’ needs are met, Dom is one of the longest serving staff members here at MVIS.  After being trained up by our Commercial and Operations Director, Anne Ashman over the last 8 years, Dom has been able to pass on his knowledge to our other apprentices, all of which have remained at MVIS/Bartco UK after passing their qualifications.

After speaking with Dom about the importance of apprenticeships he commented, “I think apprentices are very important to us, they bring fresh new ideas to the table and an eagerness to learn. It is great that MVIS/Bartco buys into the apprenticeship program, giving young people an opportunity to develop an amazing career.”

It is thanks to our innovative ideas and eagerness to improve that allow us to maintain the high quality and award-winning customer service that we proudly shout about. This would not be possible without the outstanding team of apprentices that have joined us over the years.

Back in 2015 Bartco UK saw Rebecca Prince join the team, quickly finding her calling in Stock and Purchasing.  Becca who is now Bartco UK’s purchasing and stock supervisor, ensures that everything is running smoothly within the stock control side of the business. Not only this, but Rebecca has an Apprentice of her own to pass skills on to. Pip Wood began at Bartco UK in 2018 alongside Bec as we saw the company begin to grow. Pip has since completed her apprenticeship and has moved onto other courses such as her ITOPS which she is currently undertaking and has just signed up for her NVQ level 3 in customer service.  All our staff not only improve their knowledge on company-based skills, but also expand their portfolio and better themselves as employees.

In 2016 Tillie Woolliscroft joined the MVIS team as an Operations Apprentice. Tillie began her journey at MVIS, aged 16, under the wing of Dom and made important relationships with customers and colleagues which allowed her to build confidence in her role. Tillie then began helping with social media which ultimately lead to moving Marketing in-house and creating our very own Marketing team, where Tillie was promoted to Marketing Assistant.

Since moving roles, working with Marketing Manager Sean Brown, Tillie has been trained on important aspects of marketing and editing and has found herself excelling in some vital marketing aspects such as graphic design and image editing.

Tillie spoke of her time at MVIS “Joining MVIS after leaving school was the best decision I could have made for my future; I have completed two college courses and have now moved into Marketing.  Marketing never even crossed my mind, but Anne spotted potential in my artistic skills, which led to my new job role and I couldn’t be happier.”

For the company’s being part of the apprenticeship scheme has made it clear that in order to strive for improvement as a company, Apprentices are the way forward. Bringing new ideas to the table and growing into their roll, we are proud of every single apprentice that we have welcomed through the door.

Anne Ashman, Commercial & Operations Director commented “As a young person myself who started work as an apprentice, albeit it in a very different industry, it has always made me realise the skills you pick up working in a workplace rather than attending college or university are priceless. These skills are life skills and build your confidence, also making you part of a team, teaching you the way to conduct yourself within a workplace environment.  I am a strong believer in education and am very proud to have been able to give so many young people the opportunity to not only get on the job ladder but be able to offer them a high level of qualifications so that they have a bright future.  I enjoy nothing more than spending time with  our apprentices passing on my own skills and helping them learn “the tricks of the trade”.

Over the years MVIS/Bartco have been able to build incredible teams, a lot of this is down to the 8 staff who began as Apprentices.  We would like to thank not only these members of staff but each and every one of our incredibly talented work force who have been on hand to pass on their knowledge.  Our Culture here at MVIS/Bartco UK is that we are only as good as each member of our team.