LiveWest recognises the importance of providing practical career opportunities for local people through apprenticeships and amongst its growing apprentice success stories, has helped a former chef realise his dream of becoming a Multi-skilled Trade professional. The housing association has also helped 14 new apprentices starting their careers in the trades by donating them fully equipped toolboxes.
A former chef has been able to do a change of career in his dream profession because of a Multi-skilled Trade apprenticeship with housing association LiveWest.
Jamie Sperring, from Penzance, joined the housing association in 2016 in the Customer Service team after having worked as a chef for many years. After moving to the Service Charge team, he knew he wanted to give tools a try and that a more practical job would suit him.
Up until this time, the opportunity hadn’t come up but then he saw LiveWest were advertising apprenticeships with no upper age limit, so he grabbed it with both hands.
He’s now two years in and encouraging others that it’s never too late to pursue a passion and make a career change.
Jamie Sperring, 39, said: “I was a chef, but I had done car mechanics at college but it’s also a hobby of mine that I do in my spare time. I would say I’ve been more directional down this line of work, but it really came to light when I bought a house in 2019.
“We had to do quite a lot of the work ourselves just to keep costs down and I found I really enjoyed it, the problem-solving of it was my favourite. So far, it’s needed a lot of work probably more than we realised but it’s given me the opportunity to try different things.
“I’ve always given something a go and I will always try and do something myself. I would like to say I can turn my hand at most things, but you can’t do everything obviously.”
Jamie found it difficult to find an apprenticeship because of his age but he credits LiveWest for opening the opportunity to everyone regardless of their previous skills or age.
He is studying one day a week at Cornwall College, Cambourne Campus, alongside the job as he is doing both plumbing and heating so his apprenticeship takes four years to complete.
Jamie continued: “It’s nice that everybody in the team has welcomed me and no one has made me feel as if I’m not part of the team or say why are you doing this apprenticeship so late? We can just have a laugh about it.
“My mentor is 25 and I’m nearly 40 so we do have a laugh with the customers when they meet us and I’m the apprentice, but it’s been really good.
“We’ve been questioned by the college whether we would ever want to go out and work for ourselves and some of the groups have said yes to that and I think ‘Oh no, that’s far too scary for me’. With a company, if you’re not sure of something, you’ve got someone to ask. If you’re out working for yourself, you’ve literally got no one.
“We’ve got a lot of additional support and so if you freelance you’ve got all of that you would lose and the training we get. It’s quite good to knowledge share with the other operatives as they might have had experience in resolving the problem before.
“For years I never knew what I wanted to do. But I enjoy this job, I enjoy the problem solving and doing hands-on work is definitely for me.”
The theme for this year’s National Apprenticeship Week is ‘Skills for Life’, encouraging others how apprenticeships can provide a variety of skills for a rewarding career.
Jamie added: “I would say it’s never too late to figure out your career path as I thought it was unusual being so late into it. I was worried about that and am I going to be the only one leaving this so late, but as it turns out, talking to a few of the other operatives they’ve also changed their career late on too.
“The fact that there is no age limit on an apprenticeship with LiveWest is great because back when I was starting out, I thought I had missed the boat as only 16 -17-year-olds were employed so it’s great the company accepts any entry but also, it’s a decent wage for an apprenticeship.
“I’m at a time in my life where I have bills, I couldn’t just drop everything to do further education, it just wouldn’t be an option for me.
“So, the apprenticeship’s been brilliant financially and being able to learn at college means you’re putting everything you know into practice.
“LiveWest is a great company to work for. I do think it’s a good match for me, it’s certainly the happiest I’ve ever felt at work and it’s not like any other job I’ve had.”
Tools of the trade
In recognition of National Apprenticeship Week, LiveWest has helped new apprentices joining the organisation by giving them their own set of tools to kickstart their roles. The housing association partnered with Jewson Partnership Solutions to donate 14 toolboxes costing £250 each with fully equipped tools so new starters have their own equipment to use when beginning their career.
James Redman, a new Property Services Trade Apprentice for LiveWest based in Exeter, said: “This will make a really big difference to the job and make sure we’re well equipped to get started. So, we are really appreciative to Jewson and LiveWest for sorting it out for us.
“I had quite a limited set before, so this is a significant upgrade for me and I’m really pleased. It’s really kind of them to help us out with this and it’s a great addition to have.”
Laura Sanders, People Skills Development Adviser for LiveWest, commented: “We have a long-established partnership with Jewson Partnership Solution, and we can’t thank them enough that they have shared some of their Social Value fund with us which has supplied our new apprentices with a stocked toolkit.
“We are proud at helping to shape careers and develop our people. This will give them a great start with their new careers, providing them with the tools to succeed.”
James Chambers, Partnership Account Manager at Jewson Partnership Solutions, said: “Apprenticeships offer a vital route for individuals to gain invaluable practical experience and develop essential skills. We firmly believe in empowering the next generation with the necessary resources to support them in their journey as they make meaningful contributions to the industry throughout their career.
“We are delighted to have contributed to this initiative and we look forward to seeing how these apprentices develop over the coming months and years.”
Header image: Jamie Sperring (on the right)
