Leyla is Europa's first ever IT apprentice. This is her first job after school and college, so her first experience of a working environment.
Leyla was looking for a role that she could grow and develop with, and this apprenticeship scheme offered the perfect opportunity to do just that.
A top priority for Leyla was that she would be able to work and develop her knowledge at the same time. She studied IT at North Kent College which pushed her to give the industry a try.
When she left college, Leyla didn’t feel like university was the right route for her as she really wanted to be able to work at the same time as studying. Leyla’s mum works within the Finance team at Europa and when Leyla was planning her next steps after college, her mum mentioned her interest in IT to the Europa team who had already been looking into apprenticeships.
“Choosing the apprenticeship route really appealed to me and I feel it has really pushed me to learn quicker and to face real-life scenarios,” says Leyla. “Logistics was a completely new industry for me and I’ve found it so interesting to understand the different elements of the logistics industry and the company itself.
“I love the challenge of my new role. Each day is different, and you can encounter so many different scenarios. Also, I don’t feel like I have just one role which is great, there is always something new to understand and learn.”
Leyla has always had an interest in IT so when this position became available, she knew it was something she really wanted to try. Logistics has hooked her in.
She finds it a really interesting and varied industry to work in. Leyla hopes she can progress within the team.
Leyla would give the following advice to someone going into an apprenticeship: “Give yourself time to do the apprenticeship work, space things out. I have always found it quite overwhelming having lots of things to do at once but as I now manage my time around work and my apprenticeship work, I feel like I am able to balance things.
“I focus on blocking out specific time to go over key work to ensure I am always on top of my academic work. My apprenticeship programme has a lot of activities to complete and my team at Europa have been really supportive, helping me to manage my workload and learn as I go.”
