Enrico Quddus

Building control surveyor apprenticeship – Level 6

by

Looking for an exciting opportunity within the construction sector? Then you might want to consider the Building control surveyor apprenticeship. This is an opportunity to build your career as a building surveyor, read on to find out more.

Overview of the role

This role is not just simple surveying, but also requires an ability to enforce compliance with the Building Act 1984. Becoming a building control surveyor turns you into a third party service to certificate that building work meets the minimum standard of the building regulation through unbiased and fair judgement. This is also to ensure health and safety, as the surveyor needs to be ready to deliver their decisions to customers in a diplomatic and assertive manner.

Building control surveyors analysing a building plan

Core duties of building control surveyor

The core duties and tasks of a Building Control Surveyor include the following:

  • To ensure a sustainable built environment in compliance with the Building Act 1984.
  • Evaluating plans, drawings, specifications and other documents submitted for building regulation approval.
  • Inspecting different types of building work and keeping records of the site visits.
  • Issuing certificates when the work has been carried out satisfactorily.
  • Communicating with members of the public, construction professionals, and delivering efficient customer service.
  • Keeping up to date with current regulations and legislations.
  • Enforce regulatory compliance in case there is defective construction work on site or demolitions and dangerous structures to ensure public safety.
  • Taking part in the administrative process of Building Regulation applications.

Entry requirements and Qualifications

The minimum entry requirements for this apprenticeship is three A-levels at grade C or higher. A level 3 apprenticeship qualification in a construction related discipline can also be accepted. Despite this requirements, the end decision to take in the apprentice is dependent on the employer. Apprentices also need to have a level 2 English and Math qualification to enter EPA (final stage of the apprenticeship).

The apprenticeship is estimated to be around 4 years long, excluding the EPA period. Once completed, the apprentice will have successfully achieved a level 6 qualification as a building control surveyor. This achievement also includes a BSc (Hons) degree in Building Control. The successful apprentices will also be eligible to apply for membership of the Chartered Institute of Building and the Institute of Fire Engineers.

Building control surveyor apprentice inspecting a building

The construction industry is an amazing world to build your career in, and applying for a building control surveyor apprenticeship is an exciting way to begin in this line of work. To find out more about this apprenticeship, visit the institute for apprenticeships.

To learn about other apprenticeships, check out our blogs on ApprenticeTips.com. Also if you haven’t yet, make sure to sign up to our newsletter, providing a weekly summary of the latest news on apprenticeships.

The best tips for a Digital Marketing apprenticeship

by

The industry of Digital Marketing is constantly growing, and so are the career options that can be pursued. One of these options are apprenticeships, which have risen in popularity, with a 64% increase of applicants since 2010.

Choosing a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship allows the individual to gain knowledge and skillset on the job. Similar to sandwich years provided by universities, where a student would take a break from their studies for a work placement related to their degree.

Whether you are looking to apply or are currently an apprentice, there are many things that you can do to develop your capabilities in digital marketing. Below, I cover the things I did to ready myself for my own apprenticeship.

Researching

Doing research is a core factor for any type of learning. Digital marketing is a proof of this, as you can find a lot information with a simple search on Google. Hence reading through various articles appearing from searching ‘digital marketing’ is a good way of building a foundational knowledge of the industry. As a head start, you can read through this blog on Mailchimp, covering quite a few concepts of digital marketing. Some of the most important information I consider from this would be:

  • B2B and B2C businesses
  • Media Channels – SEO, Search, Email, Social Media
  • The marketing funnel and customer lifecycle
  • Creating a media plan, optimizing, and analyzing campaigns
Digital Marketing research on a laptop

A good habit to pick up while working in this industry, is to also research the latest trends. As the digital world is constantly evolving, keeping up with all the innovations is key. Check out this blog for a summary of some of this trends here.

Training courses

Online course were, and still are, the most effective type of training I did before and during my apprenticeship. The ‘Fundamentals of digital marketing‘ was the first course I completed while pursuing this path. Although it is provided by Google which focuses on search marketing, this course covers a lot more than that, from online business strategy to content marketing and analytics. Google provides a lot more courses, free of charge, if you would like to cover more specific topics in marketing.

Compared to researching and reading articles, doing online courses is much more structured and interactive, and can make it really fun to learn with videos and quizzes. Other than Google, most digital media companies provide courses specific to their content. Very useful ones I found are these ones provided by FutureLearn and HubSpot.

Running organic media

As mentioned previously, a key concept of digital marketing are the media channels. As you begin the journey in an apprenticeship, you might specialize in a specific channel your company works on. For example, I began my apprenticeship in the search marketing team, using Google as the primary channel. I also had the opportunity to work in the social media team, on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. However, you can also independently hone your skills in a specific platform of your choice through organic media.

Before starting my apprenticeship, I decided to do this through Instagram, creating a professional account. I used it to test out different types of content, and familiarize myself with the terminology and analytics of the platform. Of course, this can be done on other platforms you would want to focus on, including using Mailchimp for email marketing, and creating blogs for SEO.

Setting up a professional Instagram account for Digital Marketing practice using organic media

From a personal note, I am currently at the end of my digital marketing apprenticeship. If I had the chance to advise myself when starting the apprenticeship, I would have suggested all the recommendation above to the younger me.

Of course, there many other apprentices that provide useful information on ApprenticeTips.com to check out. Also if you haven’t yet, make sure to sign up to our newsletter, providing a weekly summary of the latest news on apprenticeships.