A Day in the Life of Another Modern Apprentice!

Since joining CARF in August 2021 as a Modern Apprentice in Customer Service with my fellow Modern Apprentice, Emily I have worked from the head office or from home, in line with covid restrictions.

I have benefited from a variety of many different and enjoyable tasks, such as training both advice specific and towards my SVQ in Customer Service as well as answering calls on our general advice helpline.

I have enjoyed the different aspects of work while being here with the various opportunities it brings and most recently I have been working with the Financial Inclusion team carrying out feedback surveys for our clients who have had support from the Carer’s Income Maximisation Project.

A day in the life of a modern apprentice can change from day-to-day, but a regular day from my perspective would consist of arriving at head office between 8:30 and 9am.

Once I sign into the building I sanitise the desk I will use and set up my laptop and other equipment, before checking in with my colleagues who are also in the office that day.

I may have a quick chat about any case work with an experienced colleague or review any unusual types of queries received and plan any research of advice or legislation.

I would then review my emails and double check what I have arranged in my calendar, whether it be any meetings or pieces of work due. Once I have checked that, I’ll start on case related tasks or duties or plan time for any new activities I need to action.

I’ll check my emails, and reply if I have any more, before going for lunch, which lasts anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour on a normal day.

After arriving back from lunch and depending on the duty rota, I can be answering our General Advice helpline. This means I’m the first person a caller to CARF speaks to and it is my role to establish the nature of the query and record it accurately on our case recording system.

Just before I log in to the telephone system, I communicate with the person who was on the line before me, just to double check that my line I’m going onto is clear.

If there are any urgent or emergency situations I have a Duty Adviser I can pass the queries to or seek support from.

Afternoon triage can last anywhere between 2-3 hours, depending on the amount of people in the queue and type of queries.

When I finish my triage session, I like to review the cases to make sure everything is completed accurately and reviews or follow up tasks are set or the case is closed where the query has been resolved. I can also review cases where the Duty Adviser has advised on a complex, emergency or urgent situation which helps my training and learning.

I then like to review and plan what I am doing for the next day and the rest of the week, usually by my work calendar, but also utilising the recording systems and team rota’s.

At the end of the day, I pack up my equipment and sanitise the desk then head home, and that is a day in the life of a modern apprentice at CARF.