One of the key skills my degree apprenticeship at Leeds Trinity University taught me was critical reflection, therefore it only seems fitting to reflect on my experiences as an apprentice a year after completing the course and during National Apprenticeship Week.

The course I studied was in Business-to-Business (B2B) Sales, a profession not usually associated with academia and research, but more learning through experience – which is exactly what I had done up until the start of the programme. It helped to formalise all the learning I had picked up in my time in sales and gave me the opportunity to interact with and learn from subject matter experts and thought leaders in the world of sales.

Unlike school or even regular university degrees, one of the key differences I found was that some of the best learning came from the group discussions within the cohort. It is very rare within your professional life to be in a room with people who all do your job but for various companies and industries. To see how other organisations approached similar challenges from different perspectives was really interesting and hugely valuable.

It is easy to look back with rose tinted glasses, but it would be wrong to not acknowledge how challenging balancing full-time work and a degree apprenticeship was. There were many evenings and Sundays spent writing essays! But I was very lucky to have had the support of a fantastic employer and supportive management at Arena Group alongside our course tutors Louise Sutton (Consalia) and Kirsty Beckett (Leeds Trinity). They were a huge help throughout the course, not only providing first class teaching but making sure we had all the tools and support we needed to complete it. It was great to celebrate three years of hard work with them at graduation.

I can honestly say that in one way or another I use the skills I picked up every day at work. They were equally applicable when dealing with small/medium sized firms, as I was when I started the course, as they are now when selling into FTSE100 firms today. The degree apprenticeship has definitely helped me develop in my career and progress quicker than I could otherwise have expected to.

There are so many sales professionals and others across a range of sectors who would benefit from the experience of a degree apprenticeship, I would heartily recommend it to anyone looking for an opportunity to challenge themselves and grow within their role.

Tom Harrison graduated with a BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Business-to-Business Sales in July 2022. Having previously graduated with a degree from the University of Sheffield in 2015, Tom joined the sales department at Arena Group.  In 2019, Tom was put forward by his employer to complete the Business-to-Business Sales Professional Degree Apprenticeship, a three-year work-based programme of study resulting in a full Bachelor’s degree. 

For more information about degree and higher apprenticeship qualifications on offer at Leeds Trinity University, visit the website.