To mark National Apprenticeship Week, we are celebrating our apprentices. We have been sharing their stories and achievements all week, as well as learning more about what goes into providing first-line IT support for the entire King’s community.
This year’s theme is ‘Build the Future’, so we’ll also be exploring the Service Centre’s commitment to Cornwall. Since opening in 2015, it has consistently recruited from the local area, championed staff development and delivered graduate and apprenticeship opportunities.
This investment in the next generation has ensured the Service Centre is never short of excellent talent. Twenty-five apprentices have passed through its doors, with over half staying on and continuing their careers with King’s.
Ben is one of the team leads for the Service Desk at King’s Service Centre. He is responsible for the training and development of the apprentices that join the Service Management Team.
Our apprentices are fully integrated in the daily work of the Service Desk, after their training they learn from each other and their colleagues, constantly increasing their knowledge of King’s IT.
We are always confident that our apprentices can deal with queries with exactly the same alacrity as any of our full-time analysts. They also take time off from the desk to develop skills through their college work. Several of our former apprentices are now Senior Analysts who act as a technical escalation point for the team and pass on their in-depth knowledge when assisting with queries.
Apprentices are an important part of the team on the Service Desk
Ben said “The apprentices are a key part of our team and play a full role in staffing the Service Desk when they are not in college. Between them they have answered more than 20,000 calls and logged 20,000 tickets this year. The apprentices are able to resolve tickets at the same rate as our full-time members of staff”.
When asked about how the pandemic has affected the apprenticeships, Ben said;
“Most of our apprentices were very new when we moved to working from home due to the pandemic. They have impressed everyone with their willingness to adapt and their hard work. Each of the apprentices are beginning to pick up specialist SME areas where they interact with the third-line team and provide feedback and specialist knowledge to the desk. This improves our rate of first-time fixes at the desk and reduces the workload across King’s IT”
Here’s some of the great customer feedback we have received for our current apprentices;
“Matt not only responded, but also helped fixed my problem – all under an hour. He also helped fix a complicated problem with my computer’s audio and video. He was brilliantly professional and flawless in his work. Thanks to him, I can join a meeting and continue to do my work without an interruption. Keep up the good work”
“Connor was very professional in dealing with the issue. He explained everything step by step. No improvement required. Thank you”
“You can’t improve on perfection. Elliot was a joy to work with. Thanks again and have yourselves a splendid weekend”
“Melissa was very patient, knowledgeable and friendly whilst attending my query. She resolved every issue that I raised during the support session that I had with her. She is an ingenious personality”
“I felt that Brad was very patient and took his time to resolve the issue. He was extremely attentive and were clear in all communication. I am amazed by the IT support”
