Great gains of apprenticeship

Leon Soyinka Sinden, 19, London, PR and Communications Apprenticeship

Having joined the Civil Service three months ago, Leon Soyinka Sinden “always wanted to work in government”.

He explained: “It seemed such an incredible opportunity. I never thought I’d get in – I’d just give it a go - I decided to apply on a bit of a whim because I’d kick myself if I didn’t. And then it progressed and I got one interview after another and then eventually got the job.”

Working within Cabinet Office central communications, Leon operates within the community and engagement team for the central GCS team.

“I work on internal newsletters that go to all these communicators across different departments. I also help run the social media channels for the government communication service.

“And I am involved in a lot of ad hoc stuff as well. I help with admin, which means that I’m really involved with all the central stuff going on with my team.”

Leon gets paid a full time salary whilst spending 20 per cent of his time studying towards an apprenticeship.

“With the apprenticeship you get a bit of an understanding of all the different areas of communications so you’re really prepared to go into different areas. There are so many different career paths. “Applications for the next cohort of GCS apprentices will be opening soon so keep an eye on the GCS website gcs. civilservice.gov.uk,” he advised.

“Before taking the apprenticeship I was worried about not making friends like you do in university. However, I am part of a large cohort of apprentices and so have had lots of opportunities to socialise with them.”