The Black Apprentice Network (BAN)

WE ARE LIVE!⚡️ We hosted our first official event, and it was a smashing success. Sold out almost instantly every time we increased capacity! That’s what we love to see. We were a family of 100 people on Friday! Planting seeds: cultivating lifelong relationships 🌱☀️ . Just like the name of the event says, our goal was to enable young black professionals and students to develop professional relationships with each other. We wanted to provide the opportunity for aspiring apprentices to meet role models who have a similar background to each other. We started with an introduction to the mission of The Black Apprentice Network (BAN), what we plan to do, what we have done and what matters to us. We were able to share our experiences and provide advice via our two panels. Special shout-out to our panellists‼️ With our first panel consisting of Fenton, Alisha, Kwesi and Safiya. Then Sydney, Naomi, Lamar and Rubin on our second panel. Apprentices in all different industries and an aspiring apprentice who managed to land multiple offers from large organisations. We talked about their reasons for choosing apprenticeships over the traditional university route, how their friends/family reacted, how they plan to leverage their position as an apprentice for their careers and a range of questions from the aspiring apprentices. Thank you to everyone that shared their unique experience of apprentices from African and Caribbean heritage. 🗣 We had an exciting evening of networking afterwards where we made sure our aspiring apprentice and current apprentices connected. Our apprentices were excited to share their experiences, and we saw our ambitious aspiring apprentices go the mile to connect and learn. One thing that stood out was the energy of the room and how comfortable everyone was to be among their peers. Good vibes and enjoyment that’s what we expect to bring to every event🤩. If you are currently an apprentice or aspire to be one, are from African or Caribbean heritage, make sure to look at our page and join our community. https://lnkd.in/emPmHhn3 Next stop: The Midlands 👀 XX/05/2023 #community #network #blackexcellence #apprenticeship #socialmobility #opportunity #blackapprenticenetwork

Successful apprenticeship applicants know this secret that unsuccessful applicants are lost about. (Check it out below 👇) Apprenticeship applications are: 100% Resumes, 100% Psychometric testing, and 100% Assessment Centres and 100% Interviews. All of them are important... ...because if you fail at one you do not progress.

Happy Notting Hill Carnival weekend 🎉 Enjoy the weekend, and have a fun and safe time celebrating! ❤

The best type of apprenticeship applicants aren't the people that instantly get a role in September. It isn't the ones who get great grades. It isn't even the ones who show incredible professionalism. What is it then? It is the ones who stay consistent. Even in the midst of your A-Level and college exams, it's the ones that are still applying and putting themselves out there. Good luck to those still doing it.

You can start earning a salary immediately with an apprenticeship 😍 And it's incredible 😆 You can start building toward your financial future very early 🕑... and you can, for those in lower income households, support the household through your apprenticeship 💸 Leaning and earning taste so sweet 😀

"Apprenticeships are more about making money than providing valuable education." Let's evaluate this. We heard this recently... ...and thought this was crazy. A incredible benefit of apprenticeships is that you get to build toward your financial future... ...but the whole point of apprenticeships is for you to have a relevant, useful, valuable education. Apprenticeships are more of an incredible learning experience, rather than earning experience.

I am pleased to announce that after receiving my A-Level results, I will be joining the law firm Bird & Bird as a Solicitor Apprentice in September! It was a tough year managing University and apprenticeship applications alongside studying for A-Levels, and I would not have been able to do so if not for the amazing relationships that I had built as an aspiring apprentice. I would like to say a huge thank you to the The Black Apprentice Network (BAN) for providing support throughout the application process, as well as City Century and Young Professionals for publicising the solicitor apprenticeship route. For those applying for the next apprenticeship cycle - I wish you the best of luck!

🎉 Celebrating the Success of Our Aspiring Apprentices!🎉 We are so proud to announce that many of our talented and determined members have secured apprenticeship offers. These achievements are a testament to their hard work, dedication, and the power of community. Here’s what some of our successful aspiring apprentices had to say: Evie Patterson - Secured an offer at Simmons & Simmons 👩🏽⚖️ “For me, the Black Apprentice Network allowed me to interact with hundreds of people wanting to enter, or already in the field of law. Being able to talk to apprentices and get given advice on how best to approach the application process was invaluable. The success and growth that BAN has achieved has made being a small part of it feel very special, I can’t wait to see where this network will go!!” Chrystal Kaguramamba - Secured an offer at BBC📺 “My cousin recommended me to The Black Apprenticeship Network, and since, it has helped reveal that apprenticeships are possible, as they are not spoken about/supported as much as university, in schools. I also loved how I was able to communicate with other people in the same boat as me, have a network solely made for people like me, and receive advice on how to thrive in my next steps for the future.” Lynn Mukuru - Secured a Level 7 Solicitor Degree Apprenticeship at Shoosmiths, Birmingham ⚖️ “When I had originally started writing applications, I quickly realised that I lacked work experience and networking events that showcased my passion for law. Through joining the BAN community, I engaged in networking events and application masterclasses and enabled me to uplift my application and help it stand out from the crowd. If I had not done this, I would’ve not only struggled with writing top-notch applications but also in building the foundations of my network.” Massif Sabwe - Secured 2 offera from Wedlake Bell and Norton Rose Fulbright, one of our partners “Lamar from the BAN reached out to me on LinkedIn and invited me to the NRF x BAN event in January after I asked him for some application tips. I thoroughly enjoyed this event and found the tips received extremely useful for my applications. So I applied to NRF and some other firms using the tips from the event. As I progressed to different stages of the application process, Lamar was always available to answer any questions I had and the BAN Law GC was also very helpful during this time of applications too. Upon telling Lamar the good news, he went out of his way to set up a call with us to give final tips and run us through the assessment centre process and just generally help ease our nerves. This was extremely helpful and allowed me to make my preparation as effective as possible in the time I had.” We are beyond excited to see our successful aspiring apprentices transition into the apprentice world and see where your journeys will take you. We are proud to have been a part of your path to success. 🚀 #apprenticeships #resultsday #success

Over the past 5 weeks, I have been taking part in the BT Group x The Black Apprentice Network (BAN) Dragons' Den Program. Each week I attended skill-building sessions ran by industry experts from BT. These included: • ‘How to craft and eye-catching PowerPoint’ by Noah Barnshaw • ‘The importance of personal branding’ by Bailey Shortland (my personal favourite as this was something I had never considered previously) • ‘The power of effective storytelling’ by Joshua Dixon This ultimately culminated in a virtual pitch day last week which was an excellent opportunity to develop our pitching skills. Our pitch brief was: “How can you use technology to support/change our local community?” As a response, I worked alongside Jemimah Sanyu to create CareCortex: an app that utilises AI to alleviate stress faced by the NHS. The judges loved our idea, asked detailed questions in response and offered insightful feedback. Thank you to Sophie Willmott and Rubin Poku for organising an amazing experience.

Good luck to those getting their results tomorrow 👋 You have: 👉 Completed your GCSEs 😰 👉 Worked through the shock of your first year of college/A Levels 🤯 👉 ( 🗣 👂 ...joined the Black Apprentice Network ) 😃 👉 Completed your personal statements 📜 👉 Committed to your apprenticeship applications 📩 👉 Dealt with the ups and downs of the apprenticeship application journey ⬆ ⬇ 👉 Focused on studying your topics in the most difficult final year 👨🎓 👉 Confronted and defeated your exams ✌ ...you are a winner, regardless 😁