My apprenticeship journey: Oliver Turnbull

To mark National Apprenticeship Week we caught up with Echelon’s apprentice project coordinator Oliver Turnbull, who is currently working towards Level 4 in Project Management.

Oli, who has a Master’s in Law and started his career working for Durham Police, joined Echelon last year after deciding that a legal career wasn’t the right long-term fit.

He talks about retraining and building a career in a new field.

Tell me about your career path to date

After completing a Master’s in Law at Northumbria University, I spent a couple of years working for Durham Police.

I held a few roles within the Victim Service and Witness Care Unit, as well as working as a call handler.

I was looking for a change of career path and the opportunity with Echelon came up. One of my good friends works in procurement and so I knew a little about procurement and the housing sector beforehand, and the role really appealed to me.

Also, I felt that my previous communication and case management experience had given me transferrable skills, ideally suited to a project-focused environment.

What does a typical day look like for you?

No two days at Echelon are the same, and I am often supporting on several projects, working with a range of clients at the same time.

I assist with the preparation and review of key documentation, coordination of meetings and workshops, and maintenance of accurate project records. I also support compliance processes and contribute to the continuous improvement of project delivery tools and systems.

Alongside that, I complete “off-job” tasks and regular assignments, as part of my qualification, as well as attending workshops and meeting regularly with my tutor.

How does this learning journey differ from your previous experiences?

I would say that with classroom-based learning, you don’t really get much opportunity to apply your knowledge, so it can take a while for things to sink in but when you are learning on the job and doing it every day, it is much easier to retain the information.

You also have much more of a support network as an apprentice than you do at university – there is always someone available to bounce ideas off and to help, when required.

Do you think your past experience has given you skills that you can use in this role?

Law taught me to skim-read efficiently, which is useful in my current role; I can quickly understand a document’s purpose. It’s also been useful to have an understanding of business law.

What have you enjoyed most about the role?

When I joined the business lot of the projects that I was working on were already underway so I came in halfway through but over the last couple of months I have been introduced to several new projects and it has been nice to have been on those from the start and to watch them develop. I have also attended my first in-person moderation sessions which was really interesting.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

At this stage, I’m honestly not sure but there is a clear path for career progression within Echelon which is exciting.

What advice would you give to people considering an apprenticeship route?

I would say that doing your research is very important – choose something that offers a worthwhile qualification at the end and choose a business that offers career progression opportunities.