Painting and Decorating Apprenticeship

Working as a Painter and Decorator

Age: 22
Completed course: 2011

So, what are you doing now after leaving college?
I finished my apprenticeship and then I just carried on working with the person I did the apprenticeship with for the past few years. In between I’ve done a lot of my own work, trying to build up a good reputation.

What work do you do on your own? Is it just painting and decorating or do you do other things?
I like to just do painting and decorating. It’s mostly domestic work, so in houses. I rarely do commercial work.

When you left college did you feel prepared going into your job?
Yeah, really prepared. I think it was all the practical work we were doing. It gave me a good insight into the job. It gave me confidence to go out into the workplace.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
Meeting new people. I’d hate to do office work because you’re in the same place all the time and I like meeting new people and traveling. Plus I like the work, I really enjoy the job.

Do your skills vary from job to job?
Yeah, because it could be wallpapering, lining or it could be just general painting, preparation of woodwork, outside or inside, it’s really different.

How did you find out about apprenticeships here in the college?
I was doing my course and the tutor told me there were apprenticeships happening and asked if I was interested in participating.

Did you find your tutors supportive?
Yeah, very.

If someone was doing a college course and they really wanted to do an apprenticeship, what advice would you give them?
Don’t be worried about it, because everyone is in it together and they’re all friendly people.

What advice would you give to someone who is leaving school and wants to apply for an apprenticeship?
It’s definitely the best choice to make, because you learn on site, you know? So, you’re learning in a class at college but then you’re also putting it into practice when you work on it.

What skills do you think a person needs to go into your career?
People person. Get along with people. You have to be trustworthy, going into people's homes so you have to be respectful I suppose.

Have you got to be good at teamwork?
Well, I work on my own a lot. There’s about six of us that work for the firm and so I could be alone for weeks and then it could be all six of us, it varies.

What qualities do you think you have that make you a good painter and decorator?
Loads! Hardworking, friendly, being punctual – punctuality is an important thing. I am trustworthy. I'm good at my job. I’m tidy.

Do you think that’s important on the job?
Being tidy is, yeah. It is important, because, when the customer comes home from work the last thing they want is a messy house. If you’re leaving every night make sure your tools are in the van or kept in a place where you’ve agreed with them to keep them.

What else do you love about your job?
I like doing the actual job and then at the end I stand back and I’m like, yeah, this looks good. The satisfaction of it.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?
I’d like to have a few people working with me.

Having your own business?
Yeah, that’s it, yeah. I’d like that. Then in ten years' time, I’d like to just be going out, pricing up work, have about ten people working for me. That’s where I’d like to be.

Why painting and decorating? Why did you want to get into that?
I didn’t really have a choice. I was in carpentry, and I wasn’t very well behaved.

So what changed?
When I did the switchover to painting and decorating I realised it was me, that I enjoyed it. It’s the last trade in any job so we get the end result.

So, you think the college opened you up to opportunities that you never thought would be for you?
Yeah, that’s it, yeah.

What were your first thoughts about an apprenticeship? Did you think, yep, this is definitely for me?
Yeah, I did, because I didn’t want to be in education really. I wanted to be out working, but an apprenticeship gave me the best of both. I could learn and earn.

What advice you would give to someone new to the trade?
A decorator always carries a duster brush, that’s what I was always told.

What other bit of advice would you give them?
Be tidy, be respectful, it's someone else’s home and they’re trusting you to be in there so don’t abuse it.

Studied Travel & Tourism, Leisure & Tourism and Performing Arts

Now Artistic Director of a street theatre company in Hampshire

Age: 25
Completed course: 2008

Which courses did you study at Harlow College?
I studied Travel and Toursim, Leisure and Tourism and Performing Arts. I did one year of BTEC Diploma Performing Arts and I then went on to do National Diploma Performing Arts.

What you are doing now?
I'm the Artistic Director of a Hampshire based street theatre company. We run artistic workshops, from puppetry to clowning to group theatre work, art installations, fire shows, things like that.

What do you find most enjoyable?
I find art installations the most rewarding because I use sound and imagery together in an artistic way, using material that my audience can relate to and get involved with. Some people cry, some people laugh, some people just don’t know how to take the experience. So I think combining different elements is what I like most about doing installations.

What are your responsibilities in the business?
I’m the Artistic Director of the company. I do clowning, fire work and art installations. My partner is the Workshop Director and administrator, he also does puppetry and clowning.

How many people are involved?
It all depends on what type of work that we do, but when we go out but we have up to 26 people involved.

Going back to your time here at Harlow College. I’m guessing it was the performing arts course that inspired you do what you’re doing now?
It was. I loved it so much and I loved performing on stage. We did a performance called All Sorts in the theatre. I started then to look into the history of clowning and I started to create my own character. I created him from scratch and performed him and I enjoyed performing it so much that my tutor at the time booked me onto the Winchester University open day and said "go and look at this course". It was the first time the course had been run, so we were the guinea pigs in a way. I said “okay, cool, lets go.” So I went and had a look at the course, and I was like, wow, this is what I want to be doing.

So your tutor was partly responsible for pointing you in the right direction?
Oh, definitely! I really take my hat off to the tutor because I would never have looked at that course otherwise.

So was the guidance and the support you got here at the college beneficial to you?
Absolutely. It was fantastic here. There was always someone to talk to, always someone to ask advice from, and they definitely helped to push me in the right direction. They never kind of said, "oh, no, you don’t want to do that".

What would be your advice be to someone applying to university?
Go and look at a couple of universities. If you can find out who your lecturers might be, Google them as well. The reason I say that is I googled and I found out the lecturer was a master of clowning, he was a doctor of movement and his background was phenomenal.

Any tips for anyone writing their application to uni?
I might not be the best person to ask that because I wasn’t great at writing my university application because I was still nervous at the time.

Did our Guidance team here help you with that?
Yeah, they helped me a lot. I can’t remember the name of the lady who helped me but she was fantastic, and I kept coming back everyday to get it right. She was always there and she would always book me in.

Someone may be inspired by your story, think they would like to do what you do, but don’t really know much about it – what advice would you give them?
Well, going back to when I first started, I didn’t know much about it really, just the history of clowning. So when I got to university, I did everything they offered me, from stilt walking, to unicycling, to juggling, everything. Do everything you can and embrace everything you can and soon enough you'll find your feet.

Keeping an open mind I guess, as well?
Definitely keep an open mind because the theatre and the street are totally different, but keep an open mind and always push yourself as far as you can.

Studied BTEC National Diploma
in Popular Music

Now lead guitarist and singer of The Ladykillers

Age: 23
Completed Course: 2010

What are you doing now, with your music?
At the moment we're concentrating on preparing for our second album.

So you’re in a band then?
Yes, I’m in a band. I’ve been in the band since I left college so I think it’s coming up to four years now. We started out pretty small and average and we’ve been working really hard at it and it’s progressed.

What's the band called?
We’re called The Ladykillers.

Are you the lead singer?
I do backing vocals, I’m lead guitarist.

So how did you make it into the scene? Did you have a record deal?
We’ve had a few different record deals, it gets a bit complicated. We haven’t found one that really suits us. We first started off as a 50’s rock and roll band, and me and my friend Luke, who is the lead singer, we started playing in my bedroom after college because we both had a mutual love for music. We got a band rolling and we’ve kind of done well with it because of our age. That was a big thing because in that scene it’s more middle-aged to older people because of the nature of the music, it’s an old genre. We kind of mixed that music with a little bit of punk as well which again wasn’t really being done as much, so I think that's kind of the reason why we were successful getting into the scene.

So you spoke to the guy at Wild Records and he got you out there?
Yeah, he got us out there the first time. He wanted us to join the record label, he wanted to record a vinyl with us but when it came down to it it wasn’t going to be the right decision as it was an overseas label. There was another band, similar age doing similar stuff to us that had gone with them the previous year and it didn’t work out.

So we've kept it as more of a mutual thing, where we will go and play shows with each other and their bands come over to us and we host them.  From there it’s just been building things up. You play gigs and get to meet people, they see your shows and like it. You build up contacts.

The guy out there, his record label is really big for the scene so he has a lot of contacts all over the states, mostly California, Vegas, Texas  and New York.   

So any advice you can give to someone thinking about getting into it then?
Don’t be too snobbish about where you play, even if it looks like a dump you don’t know who is watching! And you just need to keep persevering. It is tough and you sometimes feel like giving up and saying is it worth it. But it is, I am 23 and have travelled all over the world playing music, its amazing.

What would you like to be doing in 5 years time?
In 5 years' time I would like to be signed to a good label. Probably touring more regularly and hopefully on our 4th or 5th album! Still playing music with the same band.

Studied NCTJ Fast Track Magazine Journalism

Working as a copywriter for figleaves.com

Age: 23
Completed course: June 2012

How did the course help you progress?
I did English Lit at university and I’ve always been interested in journalism and writing, so I thought this course would be perfect for honing my writing skills. It really helped because I was able to build up my portfolio, and I got to try different things that helped me narrow down exactly which type of writing I wanted to do. Just refined my skills really.

Did you feel more prepared for the workplace when you left college?
I felt so much more confident. Much more prepared than I did after uni, actually. I felt like here it was more geared towards actually getting a job and going to work whereas uni is more like life skills and work as well.

What do you most enjoy about your job?
I love everything. I love writing about... well I’ve just written all the trends for swimwear, lingerie, and I love just the amount of writing I get to do and how varied it is. I’m the only copywriter, so when I started I could sort of say "you know, I’m interested in this... ". That’s why I did the blog and I love writing catalogues and trend copy.

So it’s fashion based as well?
Yeah, it’s good and I work with really lovely people and I get to do some exciting things.

What's been the most interesting piece that you've written?
There’s been so many! One I really enjoyed was a look-book for the press on swimwear trends. I also do an article every month for weddings. It’s called Wedding Planner and it gives brides expert advice on what sort of lingerie to choose for their wedding, what looks good under the dress and how important it is. I also did an advertorial for the Daily Mail when I first started and that was on summer swimwear for men and women, which was fun.

What research did you do into your chosen career?
I did a lot of looking on the internet but my friend actually got a copywriting job at ASOS and I thought "oh wow" and I looked at that and then I typed in fashion copywriter and research about it and thought "that’s really up my street!".

What advice would you give to someone who's applying for university?
I’d say get involved in as much as possible and find the right balance between socialising and doing your work.

What about doing things like writing a personal statement and researching into where they want to go?
Lot of people, before they start uni don’t actually know what they want to do. So I think trying to narrow it down to the career that you actually want to do, then tailoring your personal statement around that.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be a copywriter?
Get as much experience as possible. Whether it’s copywriting or journalism. I did journalism interning and I worked for a magazine as well. Build up your portfolio as much as possible. I think I got my job because my portfolio was so big. Get as much varied work as possible – it shows that you're adaptable.

What skills do you think are important for a copywriter to have?
Working to deadlines, being organised, making sure you're focused. It’s hard to feel creative all the time, so taking breaks and looking for inspiration and reading as well, actually.

What qualities do you think a good copywriter should have?
I’m quite a perfectionist, so that could be a weakness as well, but I think attention to detail is important. Being quite a people person, being a creative person and keeping up to date with your field.

Lastly, where do you see yourself in five years time?
Still writing, and within fashion, but I’m not sure exactly. I just want to see where it takes me. I’m quite excited, actually, because I don’t know where I’m going to be but I definitely want to be in writing. Just progress with my career, really.