Matt Pickard ‘Apprentice of the Year' nomination

For someone so highly commended by not just his peers, but clients too, it’s only fitting Matt Pickard was nominated for the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ catagory award at the Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards. 

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1. TELL US ABOUT THE APPRENTICE INCLUDING THEIR NAME, JOB TITLE AND WHEN THEY STARTED. WHAT APPRENTICESHIP ARE THEY CURRENTLY ON, OR DID THEY COMPLETE WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS?

Name; Matt Pickard. Job title; Audit Executive. Job started; 15 August 2016. Apprenticeship; Level 4 – Accounting Technician – AAT Professional Accounting.

 

2. WHAT SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME HAVE THEY EMBRACED? PROVIDE AT LEAST ONE EXAMPLE OF WHAT MADE THIS INDIVIDUAL THE PERFECT CHOICE FOR THIS APPRENTICESHIP.

During his time on the apprenticeship, Matt’s really embraced both working and learning at the same time. He’s put what he’s learnt on the job to use in his college studies and vice versa. Matt’s a very practical individual, and so an apprenticeship was the perfect choice, as it allowed him to practically apply the skills he was learning to his job, and also use skills he was picking up from his day job to help him progress. Throughout the apprenticeship Matt’s been able to evidence how he’s been using the key skills and behaviours of the apprenticeship to further his career.

 

3. HOW DO YOU FEEL THIS INDIVIDUAL HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE BUSINESS SINCE JOINING? WHAT IMPACT HAVE THEY HAD ON THE ORGANISATION SO FAR?

Since joining the audit team four years ago as an apprentice, Matt’s undertaken a huge development journey. He consistently receives fantastic feedback from clients and team members alike, and is known for his hard-working yet easy-going attitude. Matt quickly became a firm favourite of clients and many of which have commented on how great it’s been to see his bprogression year on year, and the development he’s making. For the business, Matt’s also a fantastic ambassador for our apprenticeship scheme and is a great success story to share with potential recruits. He also spends a lot of time helping to train new apprentices and help them with any questions and queries they may have on their apprenticeship journey. Outside of his audit role, Matt throws himself into organising social activities, the most notable a business wide football tournament.

 

4.HOW HAS THIS APPRENTICE IMPRESSED YOU? WHAT HAVE THEY DEMONSTRATED THAT MADE YOU FEEL THEY’VE GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND THEIR DUTIES AS A APPRENTICE LOOKING TO DEVELOP THEIR SKILLS AND CAREER?

During his time on the audit team, Matt’s earned himself the nickname ‘Golden Boy’ as he’s quite simply a pleasure to work with. He always strives to be the best he can be, whether this is performing consistently well at his day job, volunteering to take on additional tasks within the team to learn new skills, or training and mentoring the more junior members of the team. Matt’s a very dependable member of the team and always produces high quality work and client deliverables, often only expected of those more senior than he is. He’s also currently working ahead of expectation and is likely to receive an early promotion due to this, (which we can now confirm he has!).

 

5. PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF HOW THEY HAVE INTEGRATED WITH YOUR TEAM AND HOW THIS HAS HELPED THE ORGANISATION.

From the very beginning of his career with us, Matt’s gone out of his way to make connections within the office and wider business. He not only has a mentor and line manager within the audit team but also sought mentorship from our CEO which has proved invaluable to both Matt as an individual, but also to the wider team. In turn he mentors more junior members of the team, and plays a crucial role in training our new apprentices each year. This has been hugely beneficial to the business as Matt has a reputation for producing very high quality work and this is reflected in the apprentices he’s trained.