We are really proud of our candidates and proud that we can support them in their careers! To give them the recognition they deserve, we’ve been busy interviewing inspirational Protocol candidates – today we chat with Cathy who after working as an Assessor made the exciting switch to End-Point Assessing.
Cathy began her training career as a driving instructor, running her own company for 9 years before qualifying as an Assessor and joining a training provider delivering apprenticeships in Driving Goods Vehicles. Over time she branched out to cover a range of standards including:
- Customer Service
- Business Administration
- Warehouse and Storage
- Team Leading
- Business Improvement Techniques
- Cleaning and Support Services
Cathy was working as a Logistics and Facilities Management Assessor when she got in touch with Protocol in February to express an interest in End-Point Assessing. She had been keeping up to date with apprenticeship developments and asked for advice on how to ensure she could be seen by employers as a suitable End-Point Assessor candidate. Cathy had seen an advert for a Supply Chain and Warehousing EPA, and though it was not in the right location for her, she took the opportunity to speak to Protocol about the transition from Assessor to End-Point Assessor and the future of her career.
During her chat with Protocol, Cathy and her consultant Sascha discussed her experience and Sascha explained that Cathy would need to update her occupational competence in order to qualify for EPA positions. From this, Cathy approached one of her industry contacts – the employer of one of her apprentices – and undertook a week of work shadowing to update her hands-on experience in the Warehousing field. Cathy said:
“Sascha was extremely helpful and gave me lots of ideas as to how to progress into an end-point assessor role. I took everything she said to me on board and I arranged relevant work experience which has proved to be invaluable. After the call had ended, I knew I was in good hands”
A month or so later a Protocol client asked us to recruit on a Supply Chain and Warehousing EPA, this time covering Cathy’s location, and Cathy was the first person we called. In this time Cathy had completed her work shadowing in the warehouse to update her occupational competence, and had also researched taking her test for driving vehicles over 7.5 tonnes. We were able to send her CV to our client and include all the extra activities and effort Cathy had put in to ensure she’d be able to perform this role.
Fast-forward through successful phone and face to face interviews and Cathy is now successfully working full-time as an End-Point Assessor for one of the largest EPAOs in the country. She now travels across the UK to complete final assessments for apprentices, and has also had the opportunity to use the IQA qualification she’d taken whilst working in a previous role but had not yet had the opportunity to use.
We asked Catherine how she feels about her new role:
“I feel I now have the best job in the world! I work with a great team of people and feel really supported even when I’m out on the road. I honestly couldn’t be happier and it is all thanks to Sascha and Protocol.”
Are you interested in exploring a career in End-Point Assessing? Be sure to register with Protocol.
