Apprentice Economist Review

I work in Security and Online harms which involves lots of Impact Assessment work, including modelling of topical Government regulation, reviewing and assessing new research into online harms that can be used by policy teams, and ad-hoc help around different areas of the team, such as help on call for evidence.

I had never done an impact assessment before joining my current team, and it's a hugely important skill for any Government economist as it is the backbone of economic work. I've now even led one myself which has also greatly helped my leadership skills, and my organisation skills.

I have really enjoyed my time on my apprenticeship so far, I've had 2 great roles, and 2 great line managers alongside that. However I do think the extent you an enjoy a role highly depends on how much responsibility your manager gives you, as I know of other apprentices that are basically just given admin work.

So far the whole thing has been very well structured, with 4 days on the job and 1 day studying for uni every week. There have been a few miscommunications from the uni on things such as group projects, but has been fine for the most part.

We receive lots of support, we have dedicated members of staff who we can go to with any questions regarding our apprenticeship. So far both of my line managers have also been very accommodating with uni work, allowing me time to focus on the academic side when I have an essay/exam etc.

We have a live webinar every friday where any questions can be answered, and a forum where questions can be asked, however this isn't utilised very often. Lecturers can also be emailed, but sometimes answers aren't prompt. There are also other services to help with skills (eg maths) but I haven't used these.

Some modules I've done help more than others, like the more practical things such the excel module greatly helped to perform better in my role(s) but other modules just sometimes don't link, like last year I was in a very macro-centric role, so when I did micro it didn't provide much help in a job capacity

Yes there's lots of different activities, networks etc. to get involved in. Individual offices will have their own social activities a couple of times per month, but then there'll be wider departmental ones such as away days.

Yes

It's a good place to work to develop lots of different skills, as you tend to work on a variety of different tasks, and not just have tunnel vision on one individual type of task.

If you like focusing on a specific task in a long term capacity then this probably isn't the role for you, if however you like experiencing lots of different tasks, testing and building on lots of different skills, then you should definitely apply.