After deciding university wasn’t the avenue he wanted to go down, 20-year-old, Rian Taylor realised an apprenticeship would be great for him.
He said: “The opportunity to learn new skills and enhance the ones I have just appealed to me so much and it also allows me to work with different people.
“With an apprenticeship you gain work experience. I believe you have a better chance of getting a job compared to university graduates who have little work experience,” Rian emphasised.
He is currently completing an I.T and Telecommunications Professionals apprenticeship with Scottish Borders Housing Association (SBHA).
Rian has been very successful in his apprenticeship having been nominated and shortlisted for the CIH apprentice of the year award. He disclosed that he can now offer an employer new and enhanced IT skills, experience in an office environment and two diplomas in IT.
As part of his apprenticeship, Rian deals with incoming emails and phone calls to the helpdesk whilst logging them in the ticket system. He additionally provides all users with first line support.
He admitted that the best part about his apprenticeship is the freedom, especially in comparison to his last job in retail: “I can plan my workload, learn on the job and get paid as well; each day is so different.”
IT Manager, Awais Ashfaq, at Scottish Borders Housing Association said: “Rian has a facility for new ideas and is very adept at getting these across to others. Other members of staff benefit enormously from his helpfulness and his determination to get to the root of the problem and provide a solution.
“Staff members have come to know that referring a problem to him is a sure way of having that problem resolved. He is always careful to keep colleagues informed of the status of problems referred to him.”
Awais added: “Rian has been nominated four times more than any other member of office staff, in SBHA’s annual Stars Awards which recognise professional excellence.”