Level 2 Housing/Property Management Assistant Apprenticeship

by
Property management
Unlock your potential with a Housing/Property Management apprenticeship

Interested in a property management apprenticeship or job in property?

When most people think of property careers, the first thing that usually springs to mind is a landlord or an estate agent, but there are a lot more occupations in property management than you might think!

If you’re interested in the sector, find out how a Level 2 Housing/Property Management Assistant apprenticeship could help you start a new career, or take a step in a new direction in your current one.

Duration is typically 12 to 18 months.

Overview of the housing/property management assistant role

A housing/property management assistant is an entry-level role. It is customer facing and will see you providing administrative support to create and sustain successful tenancies and leaseholds in both the social and private housing sectors.

The job will involve working under supervision within a wider organisation and with external partners.

Work includes undertaking housing duties such as preparing paperwork for service charges, supporting consultations and undertaking property surveys. There will also be data administration, conducting supervised viewings and rental negotiations, handling telephone calls, arranging meetings and events and researching new initiatives.

The work is varied and you won’t be bored!

What housing/property management jobs might this apprenticeship lead on to?

The apprenticeship will prepare you for a range of general housing/property management duties leading to entry-level professional/management roles. Example job titles include housing assistant, customer services assistant, housing administrator, lettings assistant, assistant property manager and lettings negotiator.

What knowledge will I acquire?

Legislation and regulation
You’ll study the principles and practices of relevant landlord and tenant law, applicable codes of practice and relevant legal frameworks.

Organisation background information
You’ll gain knowledge of your organisation’s business plan, values, services and targets, and understand how your role fits in.

Assets
You’ll get to know the social and physical context of estates and neighbourhoods, as well as how to report defects, common problems, health and safety issues and repairs to dwellings.

Customers
You’ll understand the diversity and needs of the communities in which the business serves.

Context
You’ll learn about the current and historical context of the housing market, including social and affordable housing, private rented and owner occupation.

Range of services
You’ll familiarise yourself with a range of housing services. For example, repairs and maintenance, allocations, lettings, tenancy sustainment, financial and social inclusion, energy efficiency and waste management, antisocial behaviour, care and housing support services, rents and fees, service charges and portfolio accounts, and community involvement.

Quality standards
You’ll find out about the quality standards of your business. Examples include standards of the neighbourhood/property/building and customer service.

Organisation policies
You’ll be acquainted with the principles, policies and practices of your organisation in terms of customer care, complaints  handling,  employee  code  of  conduct,  team  working,  risk  assessments  personal safety, data protection, health and safety, equality and diversity, safeguarding and business communications.

The professional skills of a housing/property management assistant

Team work
Teamwork makes the dream work

So, you might ask, what kind of skills might be required?

First and foremost, customer service is a must. You’ll need to be able to provide a professional, accurate, timely, ethical and non-judgemental front-line service which meets the needs of a diverse range of customers and stakeholders. You’ll need to understand the needs of vulnerable individuals and respond accordingly.

Communication will also be key, as you’ll be signposting customers to services and working with internal colleagues and external partners to achieve individual, team and business targets.

You’ll need to be able to apply a range of administrative skills and be confident in using a variety of methods to collect and present information and data accurately.

Underpinning all of this will be good time management, strong decision-making skills and effective use of IT equipment and software.

Being able to exhibit certain behaviours will also help you thrive in this line of work. Employers tell us that their most successful employees are responsive, trustworthy, adaptable, dependable, committed, customer-focused and effective team players.

Professional body alignment and progression

 On completion of the apprenticeship, apprentices will be able to join the following;

  • Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) at Member level
  • Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) at Associate Grade or Member Grade (depending on length of service within the sector and within the organisation)
  • Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) at Foundation Level or Associate Level (depending on length of service within the sector and within the organisation)

Conclusion: a great start for property careers

As you can see, this level 2 apprenticeship is an excellent starting point for anyone looking to pursue a career in housing or property management. The core skills covered in the apprenticeship will open up a wide range of job and career advancement opportunities, and you will earn while you learn.

More great apprenticeship opportunities

We hope this post has inspired you to find out more about this apprenticeship, but if this programme isn’t for you, why not check out some of the other great ones on offer?

Event Assistant Apprentice Wanted (Level 3)

Digital Marketing Tips for Success

by

Are you an individual or small team starting out in the digital marketing world? Or are you an online expert interested in topping up knowledge or refreshing your experience? Or somewhere in between? Hopefully, this will spark ideas for all readers as we go through some of the best Digital Marketing practices.

Keep Up to Date

Social media applications shown on an iPhone

With as fast paced as the world is nowadays, it can be a struggle to keep up with relevant trends or the ever-changing wants and needs of customers. Therefore, it is important to stay with it! Achieving this can be done in very simple ways. Like: signing up for newsletters, staying active on social media sites like LinkedIn, and subscribe to mailing lists of companies with similar aims and objectives. Not only then do you keep up with your competitors, you can notice changes in the market, discover new technologies and see software developments as they are introduced. All which will benefit progression for your organisation however big or small.

Some other blogs we recommend include:

Similarly, as mentioned before you can keep up with trends and changes in the industry. All while keeping up with other people/organisations, using LinkedIn. As you can see here on the #DigitalMarketing feed.

Know Your Audience

Man speaking to a small audience

The most important step to being a digital marketing ‘pro’ is to understand who your target audience really is. What it is they truly want from either your products or services. Sometimes company lose sight of who they are working for, the customer. But there are many ways to ensure that you are always customer-orientated and therefore keeping the aim in sight. The below being examples of how to keep up to date with your audience:

  • Look at your competitors, often – Evaluate their brand, their marketing strategies and what they are offering to the public that you are not. How are the customers reacting to these differing products and services or marketing methods.
  • Monitor your social media engagements – watch their reactions, hear their feedback, and learn from what they say or show you. Analyse the data shown in the form of likes, shares, follows, comments etc. More often than not social media platforms offer a metrics page (e.g. Facebook Insights). Which makes engagement analysis easier and faster to collate.

If you wish to analyse in greater depth. You can compare social media results, website views, and leads in a analytics tool like Google Analytics or Adverity.

  • Ask them – Using surveys to ask your customers directly what they want in a generally affordable way. Allows you to use a question format which is an easy way to collect information from your audience. Once created it can be submitted to your social media followers and email subscribers. We recommend using a tool such as Survey Monkey.

Some other plugins you might find useful for collecting customer opinions might be:

Consistency is Key

It is extremely important for a company to always be consistent in both branding themes and the brand personality. Consistency is one of the most important and easily overlooked factors in any company, especially digital marketing-based organisations. Often being completely online based it is harder to put forward a cohesive and complete brand identity together. It promotes a professional appearance and earns respect and trust from your customers. See below the top 3 points to remember in Digital Marketing.

“Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them”

Roy T. Bennett
  1. Dependable Brand Personality – Always keep the same tone and personality for your brand across all channels. On both digital platforms and when using offline marketing methods. In order to achieve this, all staff should be receiving training on how to respond and post for the company. This ensures they post the same way with the same style of language to continue an overall ‘personality’.
  2. Unvarying Aesthetic Theme – The synonymous layouts across all channels and platforms. Along with the corresponding logo, colour schemes, fonts, symbols, style of imagery and illustrations etc.
  3. Reliable Quality – Having a constant standard of quality of products and/or services at all times is crucial. This creates a trustworthy, safe and respected brand for yourself. While also further complimenting the brand identity created in both point 1) and 2) above. So when mistakes are made handle them with impeccable service and professionalism.

TOP TIP! Use shared cloud storage services for general imagery, logos, downloaded font folders, colour charts/samples. This is beneficial so all staff can access the materials. An example of software’s you could use would be Dropbox or Google Docs.

Personalise!

Keep content for customers and contact with them, personalised. There are many ways of doing this and the simplest ones can help you drastically. When customers do not feel important to a company, they get bored. Ways of doing this can include mail merges in newsletters or email sends. Very simple to do but just feels as if the reader is being directly spoken to. Even using mail merge tags for email address or postcode, further personalising the content to them or their local area.

Similarly, in email or social media campaign content, it could be beneficial to target customers geographically with location-based content (e.g. City of Leeds aimed events or deals for a particular County). More on this would be, Geo-Location based targeting.

Which is identifying your site visitor’s location in order to connect with them. An example of how companies can use this their advantage, would be in online clothing/department stores websites. By tracking a user’s Geo-location they can tell if a user has visited the site before – if not? They can use this opportunity to showcase special discounts or offer for ‘first time shoppers’.

Another method for commerce sites selling products is to identify items in a customer’s basket and recommend complimenting products. Showing personalised and individualistic results heightens the possibility of a last minute ‘add to basket’ and boosting the sales total.

Focus on the Long Term Goals

Scrabble tiles on orange background spelling 'PLAN'

Don’t be short sighted.

Remembering the big picture, always. Getting wrapped up in setting quick, short term goals to boost engagement and sales is easily done. But this is not always as beneficial as we’d first hope. While this can work effectively and may generate a momentary spike. It does not mean it’ll work effectively in the long run and is not certain to maintain that customer base.

There are ways to keep up with your long term goals and track success towards these goals. The site Perdoo.com who helps you set and track goals. Another one you can use to closely track your goals and your progression in immense detail is Google Analytics.

Conclusion

Laptop on desk with Google browser page

No one can be perfect at digital marketing however we hope this will helps you to improve yourself or your company, if only by a little.

Thanks for Reading!

For more information about digital marketing, apprenticeships or much more visit our site with the button below:

View More Blogs

Event Assistant Apprentice Wanted (Level 3)

by

The party don’t start ‘til you walk in!

Another great opportunity here for a potential apprentice, the role of Event Assistant.

Does a team based, event planning role that could span a large variety of events, parties, venues and even countries – sound like it might be something for you or someone you know? Then keep reading!

What does the job role include?

This role would be perfect for individuals looking to develop within a role that provides an exciting array of tasks with varied teams, as you would be providing support to a number of different Event Planners or Project Managers. This will differ and could be for the organisation you will be working at or even with clients from larger corporations, smaller companies and not-for-profit organisations. This could cover a variation of tasks, for example: searching for the perfect location and venue for an event, organising logistics (transportation, catering, bar staff etc.) or working with the design team creating the overall look and feel for the event. So, you will definitely not get bored here.

Similarly, the variation spans to the size of the events as well as the events themselves. Conferences, meetings, trade shows or exhibitions make up 75% of events likely to be planned. However, other events to be created would include outdoor events, cultural events, sporting, and music events. Something for any apprentice to get stuck in and truly enjoy the planning and creation of a project.

If this does not sound diverse and exciting enough for you so far, you will be glad to know that even though most events are generally UK based. They are not at all limited to this and you could be planning events in many countries across the globe. 

What does the apprenticeship require and am I qualified to apply?

This is suited to anyone, from any background. The key to success in event management is the right attitude, passion for both the role, the stamina and commitment to the learning.

Previous experience is not typically needed however (even though it may vary between individual employer’s set criteria) you generally need to have achieved a minimum of Level 2 Maths and English. Apprentices without Level 2 Maths and English will need to achieve this prior to them taking their EPA (End-Point Assessment).

An ideal candidate for the profession would be an individual who would be flexible, calm, and proactive in a demanding but rewarding environment that can then deal with such situations with energy and enthusiasm. Good communication skills are key, along with patience and the important ability to empathise with colleagues and clients alike.

What to expect and possible requirements of the Event Assistant role?

If you are liking the sound of this, you are probably wondering what kind of tasks you’ll be taking part in on a day to day basis and what’s the skills you’re going to need to know or be prepared to work on.

Some professional skills needed may include building and maintain a relationship and rapport with a number of colleagues, clients, and suppliers and to be able to work well within these teams. Similarly, it is crucial that an apprentice can listen, understand, vocalise a client’s wants or needs or question effectively to furthermore ensure understanding.

Some general operational skills needed would include: gathering facts and collating information. This is vital for finding the perfect location and venue for an event. Additionally, being able to then aid any onsite staff at an event or registering delegates to do.

Calendar Icon

Importantly, time management skills are a must as with event management you will need to effectively prioritise tasks by urgency when organising an event.

Another skill that is important for a role such as event planning is the ability to use word processing, spreadsheet documents and contributing or creating reports for project plans or presentations for clients.

For more information on the possible roles, skills, knowledge, and understanding needed, click here: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/event-assistant/

What does it take to be the perfect event planner?

  • Enthusiastic and positive individual
  • Discretion with sensitive information and data
  • Works well under pressure, keeping calm and positive in tense situations
  • Good problem solving initiative, resolve issues fast and can be flexible with needs of projects
  • Consistent, strong attention to detail
  • Demonstrate respect team members regardless of any differences – sex, race, religion etc.
  • Exhibit a personal commitment to sustainability within all work in order to minimise negative implications on the environment potentially caused by work activities

Length of Apprenticeship & Details

Does this sound like this job is made for you? The chance to work and learn so many new things while racking up invaluable work experience within a well-established company. The length of this apprenticeship is typically 18 months and the standard of the apprenticeship is a Level 3.

Conclusion

As you can see, the Level 3 Event Assistant apprenticeship is a fantastic opportunity for someone hoping to begin a career within the events industry or someone more experienced wanting to try something new and exciting.

This apprenticeship will guide you along and open up countless possibilities in the future for a career or further education as upon completion. There is many more apprenticeships for an individual to continue learning while working and receive higher qualifications through these Level 4-7 apprenticeships.

For a more in depth look at this apprenticeship, you can view the listing by clicking the button below:

View Event Assistant Role

“SOME PEOPLE LOOK FOR A BEAUTIFUL PLACE. OTHERS MAKE A PLACE BEAUTIFUL.” 

-Hazrat Inavat Khan

Although if you want to look for something a little different, you can visit our site using the button below:

More Apprenticeships

Understanding The Customer Life Cycle

by
Diagram of the customer life cycle

What is the Customer Life Cycle?

The customer lifecycle outlines the steps taken by a customer as they progress through the marketing and sales funnel. It gives marketing, sales, and customer service teams a complete picture of the customer’s journey and highlights areas for improvement. 

Why it is important when it comes to Digital marketing

The Customer Lifecycle Value is basically a prediction of how much value a business will gain from the entire course of their relationship with any given customer. Because you never know how long each customer relationship will last, the customer life cycle is basically a way for businesses to estimate a customer’s monetary worth over time. The customer life cycle is important because it helps companies determine how much money they want to spend on bringing in new customers and how much repeat business they can expect to gain from certain customers.

What are the different parts of the cycle and what do they mean?

Awareness

Here is where your relationship with a customer begins. when they first become aware of the existence of your brand, product, or service. Without awareness the customer won’t have any knowledge that your product exists. The chances are that the customer has seen your post or advert multiple times before actually clicking on it too.

Research

Every customer goes through some version of this stage, whether it’s months of research and comparison or just a quick “gut check” before making a decision. One of the most effective ways to stand out from your competitors at this point is by offering robust digital self-service. Just like customers seeking support, consumers who are evaluating products or services start by trying to find the answers themselves.

Comparison

In our opinion this part is fairly similar to the research part of the cycle as customers will be comparing different products as part of their research. Retaining the customers attention during the comparison phase can be done by having the best deal, having the best quality product, being the easiest to buy from e.g. fastest delivery and much more. It’s important to consider all these factors as any drop in quality is likely to be picked up on.

Selection

Once a customer is set on using you as a company it’s important to make their potential selections very clear and understandable. Remember, just because a customer has chosen your company in the comparison phase doesn’t mean you’ll be able to retain them. Especially if your website isn’t clear and or a frustrating user experience.

Purchase

This step may seem simple, the customer buys the product and that’s it. However, there are crucial parts to the purchase phase. Having a simple process for purchasing the product is imperative as you can still lose the customer if they can’t find a fast way to purchase the product. If they have a question before purchasing you might also want to have a live chat feature so the customer doesn’t have to back out of their purchase to answer their question.

Experience

Once the product has been purchased you want the customer to receive it as fast as possible. Having a delay in the delivery can really harm your reputation and even earn you a bad review. Equally, the product has to be as it is described on the website.

Retention

Having a customer buy from you is only half the battle, you want repeat custom from that sale. To do this you can follow up purchases with an email after a set period of time. E.g. A customer has just purchased toothpaste from your online store. In 6 weeks our automated mailing list will send a follow up email asking if they’d like to purchase the product again as they’ve likely gone through the tube of toothpaste by now.

Word of Mouth

Finally comes word of mouth. After your customer has bought from you and hopefully had a good experience they should spread the word about your company. You can help speed this process up by having a good loyalty/recommendation scheme. E.g. recommend this company to a friend and if they sign up you receive a free gift/voucher.

Conclusion

Hopefully you now understand the importance of the customer life cycle. You must fully understand this cycle during a digital marketing apprenticeship in order to be a successful digital marketer. It’s important to keep up to date with any changes to this cycle. When new technologies come out the cycle can change, or be interpreted in slightly different ways.

IT sales Apprenticeships Overview

by
man with headphones facing computer-monitor

Technical Sales Apprenticeships

Looking at getting into IT sales? An Apprenticeship Job in IT Technical Sales could be the best way to achieve your goals. This Apprenticeship covers many bases from Data Security to Project Management. In turn, this opens up a diverse job market. Keep reading to find out more about the IT Technical sales Apprenticeship.

What does Technical sales involve?

The primary role of an IT Technical Salesperson is to sell a company’s technical products and services. They need a good knowledge and understanding of the portfolio of technologies that are available. They work to maintain good relationships with existing clients, gaining repeat business wherever possible from customers both internal and external, UK or internationally. They also approach potential customers with the aim of winning new business. They maintain a thorough understanding of existing technologies and those that are emerging.

What Jobs Can You Get With This Qualification?

Sales Associate, Sales Consultant, Sales Engineer, Entry Level Customer Support, Technical Retail Assistant, Technical Tele Sales, Junior Account Manager

What Technical Knowledge Will You Gain On This Apprenticeship?

  • Understands the basic elements and architecture of computer systems
  • Acquire a working knowledge of Cloud and Cloud Services
  • Understand the principles of secure coding
  • Acquire a working knowledge of the role IT plays within the broader context of a business strategy
  • Understand the main methodologies used for unified communications
  • Understand the basics of how data storage works and the main technical options available
  • Understand how to communicate using the appropriate language and terminology for audience and cultural awareness
  • Understand the principles and ethics of sales, recognising the importance of delivering value to the customer
  • Understand the sales life cycle, techniques & processes
  • Understand how to negotiate, handle objections and close sales
  • Understand the business product(s) they are responsible for selling including the relevant vendor product(s) as selected by the employer.

Underpinning Skills, Attitudes and Behaviours Required/Acquired

  • Logical and creative thinking skills
  • The ability to interact effectively and professionally with a range of different types of customer
  • Ability to think analytically and to solve problems
  • Ability to work independently and to take responsibility
  • Can use own initiative
  • A thorough and organised approach
  • Ability to work with a range of internal and external people
  • Ability to communicate effectively in a variety of situations
  • Maintain productive, professional and secure working environment
  • Ability to operate in a secure manner

Professional recognition

This apprenticeship is recognised for entry on to the Register of IT Technicians and those completing their apprenticeships are eligible to apply for registration.

Conclusion

As you now know an IT Technical sales Apprenticeship covers quite a wide variety of specialist skills and jobs. Don’t let this put you off from applying as not every area of this apprenticeship has to interest you to make it worth while. Please follow the link below to find out more. information on this apprenticeship.

https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/it-technical-salesperson/

The Digital Marketing Apprentice Guide

by
Digital Marketing Apprentice Guide

This guide will teach you what to expect from a digital marketing apprenticeship.

What is the job role of a Digital Marketer?

The role of a Digital Marketer is to drive customer acquisition and customer engagement through building and implementing digital campaigns across a variety of online and social media platforms. As a Digital Marketer, you can expect to work as part of a coordinated team. You will be given responsibility for some of the unique elements within an overall marketing plan or campaign. In addition to this, you will also need to work in line with marketing briefs and set instructions. As a result, you will be directed to report to a digital marketing manager, an IT manager or a marketing manager.

Typical job roles for a Digital Marketer

Listed below are some of the common Digital Marketing Job roles you can expect to see. A business organisation may require you to fill the position of one of these listed job roles:

  • Digital Marketing Assistant
  • Digital Marketing Executive
  • Campaign Executive
  • Social Media Executive
  • Digital Marketing Technologist
  • SEO Executive
  • Analytics Executive
  • Digital Marketing Coordinator

What are the qualifications for a digital marketing apprenticeship?

During your time as a digital marketing apprentice, you will need to complete 3 knowledge modules. Each knowledge module will give you a professional qualification.

  • Knowledge Module 1: Principles of Coding
  • Knowledge Module 2: Marketing Principles
  • Knowledge Module 3: Digital Marketing Business Principles

All of these knowledge modules are compulsory when studying on the Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship course. Alongside these knowledge modules, you will have a summative portfolio to complete. In addition to this, your employer will need to fill out an employer reference form on your behalf. After all three of these components are complete, your apprenticeship provider will submit you to the end point assessment. Here you will attempt to complete a synoptic project. The purpose of the synoptic project is for you to demonstrate and apply the skills and knowledge gathered from your time as a digital marketing apprentice. Once completed, you will be interviewed by an independent assessor. The assessor will grade you based upon all of the work you have submitted.

Digital marketing apprentice skill set

Digital Marketing Skill Set

In order to succeed within the digital marketing industry, it is important to understand some of the favourable skill sets and behaviours. Employers are constantly searching for candidates that possess positive attitudes and behaviours. Listed below are some examples:

  • Customer service skills
  • Written communication skills
  • Ability to work independently and part of a team
  • Analytical and problem-solving skills

Furthermore, as you progress through the course, you will have the ability to improve upon these skills alongside many others. Many digital marketing employers are also searching for a definitive passion towards both social and digital media.

Entry requirements to become a digital marketing apprentice

As a requirement, Maths and English (Level 2) are both needed before being submitted to end point assessment.

The duration of the digital marketing apprenticeship typically lasts for 18 months.

Progression opportunities for a level 3 digital marketing apprentice

If you decide to take this apprenticeship route there are plenty of progression opportunities with the addition of professional body recognition. By completing the level 3 digital marketing apprenticeship, you will be eligible to apply for a place on the independent Register of IT Technicians. You will be acknowledged for achieving various standards as well as joining a professional community. In addition to this, you will also be given access to join as a Professional member of the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing).

You can also look further into progressing onto a level 6 digital marketing integrated degree. To find out more about this progression opportunity, click here.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this guide is there to help and support you in your final decision making. Outlined is some of the fundamental features and roles within a digital marketing apprenticeship. Within this guide you can also view the opportunities for further career progression.

If you would like to get in to contact with us,Please click here to fill out our contact form.

Housing and Property Management – Level 3 Apprenticeship

by
Housing and Property Management image
Housing/Property Management

Are you interested in a career in the housing and property management sector? If so, continue to read on to find out more about what the Level 3 Housing and Property Management Apprenticeship has to offer. Furthermore, if you want to change your role within your current organisation you too can complete the apprenticeship training outlined below.

Occupational Overview

Within the housing and property management sector you can expect to be greeting tenants face to face whilst being responsible for creating and maintaining their tenancy agreements. In addition, you will also provide tenancies to both private and social rented housing sectors. Being a Level 3 housing/property management professional allows you to obtain more responsibility than you think. Some of our professionals receive supervisory responsibilities for other people and with this responsibility comes various statutory and legal regulations. The housing and property management – level 3 apprenticeship will prepare you for all of this.

Within this occupation, you will be required to deal with various day to day responsibilities and various issues to resolve. Your job responsibility can see you dealing with intricate people affairs alongside property concerns. You can expect to be independent whilst still being part of team that also share similar roles and responsibilities. Within this field, housing and property management experts are proactive, forward thinking and eager to problem solve. This apprenticeship will provide beyond appropriate knowledge and support for those looking to start a career in housing/property management.

Housing/Property Management Knowledge

The level 3 housing and property management apprenticeship will supply you with the knowledge required to excel within the industry. Moving forward, you will need to be familiar with some of the professional knowledge needed to progress further as a specialist or occupational role within housing and property management. Some of the professional knowledge that you need to be familiar with is listed below:

  • Legislation and regulation – understand the principles and legal practices in place
  • Assets – understand the social and physical context of estates
  • Customers – understand the diversity and range of communities that the sector serves
  • Organisation and background information – understand the overall role of the organisation
  • Range of services – provide applications for all of the services provided
  • Context – understand both current and past aspects of the housing market
  • Organisational policies – understand the policies and practices put into place

What are the ideal skills and behaviour requirements for Housing/Property Management?

Image of various skills words

Within the housing and property management sector, various behaviours and skills will be essential to an employer when looking for an ideal candidate. To help you understand what these are, we have listed some examples below:

Behaviours:

  • Independent
  • Dependable
  • Resilient
  • Customer Care
  • Trust and Integrity
  • Responsive
  • Ability to work as part of a team
  • Role Model

Skills:

  • Communication
  • Customer Service
  • Collaborative Working
  • Response to Vulnerability
  • Self-Management
  • Problem Solving
  • Decision Making
  • Influencing and Negotiating skills
  • Information Collection and Sharing

During your time studying as a level 3 housing and property management apprentice, you will gradually acquire and improve upon the desired skill sets within the industry.

What are the entry requirements and duration for this Apprenticeship?

The duration of this programme runs typically between 18-24 months.

All apprentices enrolling on this course will need to complete Level 2 English and Maths before the end point assessment.

Employers will also review any entry requirements at the selection process.

Conclusion

To summarise, if you are a motivated, independent and forward-thinking individual, this apprenticeship programme encompasses all of the components needed for you to start your career in the housing and property Management sector. The knowledge gained will provide you with a wider understanding of the industry and thus enabling you to pursue a wide range of career opportunities. In addition to this, if you choose this apprenticeship, once completed you can choose to join the following;

  1. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) at a Member Level
  2. The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) at Associate Level

If you are interested in this course, please click here to get in touch with us.

Digital Marketing Apprenticeship – The 12 Competencies

by
Digital Marketing Competencies

Have you recently started or thinking about starting a Digital Marketing apprenticeship? In today’s social age digital marketing has become one of the most popular and rewarding apprenticeships that are offered. It’s not quite sitting on Facebook and Instagram all day liking pictures of cats all day. It’s an incredibly detailed course that will see you follow 12 technical competencies over the length of your apprenticeship. This article will highlight those technical competencies and what they mean for your during your time as a Digital Marketing apprentice.

Written Communication

Written communication can come in several different forms, especially as a digital marketer. The way you communicate with clients and potential customers is key to the success of your role. This can include emails, newsletters, and blog posts. Different brands and campaigns will require you to use different tones. For example, a B2B (Business to Business) company will have a different tone to a B2C (Business to Consumer) Company.

Research

Before creating any piece of content, you need to make sure that it is well researched. Your research should help form the basis of your content/campaign with clear trends identified. You research should be across a range of platforms and places to avoid any bias if researching a topic. Likewise, if researching anything internally it should be over a long enough period for fairer results.

Technologies

During your role as a digital marketer you will have to prove you can use a wide range of technologies. These technologies need to help aid the current thing you’re working on and help achieve your current objectives. You must have a knowledge base of several technologies and know which is the best one to use for each task.

Data

Everything that you do as a digital marketer should be data-driven. You should review and analyse previous data to help form the path you take during your current objective. The data that you discover should allow you to provide you with the reasoning behind new recommendations and insights going forward. Data will allow you to provide clear and more reputable ideas.

Customer Service

Customer Service is one of the most important things for a company. Providing excellent customer service will make your company more reputable and increase the chance of referrals. When replying to customers you should be professional match your brands’ tone of voice. You should be able to respond across a range of platforms.

Problem Solving

When problem-solving rather than just guessing the solution you should apply a structured technique to finding the resolution. The problem needs to be analysed allowing you to come up with the best course of action to solve that issue. Different problems and resolution should be across a range of digital platforms.

The 12 Digital Marketing competencies
These are the 12 competencies you will be marked on during your apprenticeship

Analysis

Analysis will tie into nearly every other technical competency. Not only should you understand different forms of analysis and be able to find conclusions from this you should also be able to create your own analysis too. This should come across a wide range of digital tools.

Implementation

Every task that you get assigned must be implemented in a certain way. To be successful when implementing a task, you must make sure that you use the correct tools for that assignment. The more knowledge you have of different digital tools the higher chance of good implementation.

Specialist Areas

While you should have at least a basic knowledge of the following specialist areas you should be able to apply two confidently;

  • Search Marketing
  • Search Engine Optimisation
  • E-mail Marketing
  • Web Analytics and Metrics
  • Mobile Apps
  • Pay-Per-Click

Digital Tools

As a Digital Marketer, digital tools should make up the core of your knowledge base. You should have a wide range of tools available to you both free and paid. Each tool should help you achieve the technical competencies listed in this article. Being able to select the correct tool for the task at hand with reasoning why will show you’re competent using digital tools.

Interprets and Follows

You should always be looking to improve yourself as a Digital Marketer. You can do this by showing you can interpret and follow the following four things;

  • Latest developments in digital media technologies and trends
  • Marketing briefs and plans
  • Company defined customer standards or industry good practice for marketing
  • Company, team or client approaches to continuous integration

Environment

The advantage of apprenticeships is that you earn while you learn. This means you will be working in a business environment and you must adhere to a businesses’ standard and become a product of your environment. You must work effectively and hold a professional standard at all time, in your own, customers and industry environment.

Your journey to becoming a Digital Marketing Apprentice

Well, it may have just started right here… As the world becomes more digitally-driven becoming a Digital Marketer may be one of the most rewarding things you can do right now. Hopefully, this article has given you an idea of the skills that you will need and learn over the process of becoming a qualified Digital Marketer.

Does becoming a Digital Marketer sound like something that interests you? Do you have any questions about your current digital marketing apprenticeship? Want to know more? Please feel free to get in touch with ourselves via our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you! Your journey to “earn while you learn” just began here!

Funeral Director Level 3 Apprenticeship [Lincolnshire]

by
Funeral Director Level 3 Apprenticeship

Are you looking to progress your career as a funeral director but not sure where to start? Then this is the opening for you. Based in Lincolnshire over a 12-month period learn the ins and outs of the processes that go into arranging, conducting, and managing funerals. Not only that you can Earn While You Learn.

What does a Funeral Director do? Is it for you?

Being a Funeral Director is an incredibly important role in the running of a funeral from start to finish. They are the central point of contact, leader of the team and main organiser on the day of the funeral. They have to create a strong working relationship with both their staff and client to make sure the day goes as smoothly as possible. Day to day operations include planning and coordinating arrangements and resources for funerals; overseeing pre-funeral checks; ensuring the funeral meets the needs of the client; assisting in the preparation and presentation of coffins and the deceased; delivering third party products and services; pre-need and aftercare services.

What experience do I need to become a Level 3 Funeral Director?

To take part in this Level 3 apprenticeship you must have some previous experience. If you have completed the Level 2 Funeral team member (Arranger or Operative) qualification, then you are eligible to apply. If you have a minimum of 12 months experience in this sector this will also see you eligible to apply.

How long does a Level 3 Funeral Director apprenticeship last?

This Apprenticeship will take place over a 12-month period.

Funeral Director Duties
As a Funeral Director, you will be responsible for arranging, conducting and managing funerals.

What skills are required for a Funeral Director Apprenticeship?

There are nine key factors that you will show over the course of this apprenticeship. All of these factors will follow the Know it, Show it, Live it model. Know It is the knowledge and understanding of the subject. Show it is where you will demonstrate the skills you have learnt. Live it is the day to day behaviours that you have picked up over the 12 months of the course. The nine key factors are the following;

  • Client
  • Reputation
  • Leadership
  • Legal and Governance
  • Personal Development and Performance
  • Products and Services
  • Communication
  • Administration and Finance
  • Funeral

How do I qualify from Level 3 Funeral Director Apprenticeship?

The apprentice will be assessed to the apprenticeship standard using three complementary assessment methods. The assessment methods are not ‘weighted’ in percentage terms as they are all important to demonstrating the apprentice’s performance.

On-Demand Test

This is a 55-minute multiple-choice scenario-based test. It is externally set and marked and will be taken either on the employee premises or off-site. You can be graded with fail, pass, or distinction.

Simulated Scenario

You will be given two scenarios which you will have 20-minutes to plan for before presenting your findings to the endpoint assessor for 5 minutes, there will be a further 5 minutes for follow up questions. This totals one hour’s work. You can be given a fail, pass, or distinction.

Professional Discussion

This is a 75-minute structured discussion between yourself and the endpoint assessor. This will be a talk about your time during the course and how you have met the nine technical requirements over the 12 months. You can obtain a fail, pass, or distinction from this.

The completion of the apprenticeship is dependent on each assessment method being completed and passed. You will then be given your final grade of fail/pass/distinction.

For more a more in-depth look at the nine technical competencies and the three assessment methods please view this PDF Apprenticeship End-Point Assessment Plan – Funeral Director Level 3 [External Link New Tab]

How to apply for Level 3 Funeral Director Apprenticeship

If you are interested in applying for this apprenticeship or have any questions, please get in touch with ourselves via our contact form by clicking here.

We’re so available on the following;

Twitter

Flickr

LinkedIn

We look forward to hearing from you! Your journey to earn while you learn just begun!

The Key to Being a Digital Marketing Apprentice

by
Image of digital marketing resources and illustrated over the top of the image are the key areas of digital marketing
The key areas of digital marketing 

Top 7 Technical Aspects of Being a Digital Marketing Apprentice

As a digital marketing apprentice, you are required to understand multiple tasks and will be assessed on your subject knowledge in the following key areas; social media, SEO (search engine optimisation), email marketing and more. But, what technical competencies must you show as an individual to be successful in this ever-changing industry? This article will cover some of the key skills, we believe, you must have to ready you for success in the digital marketing industry and why they are so vital to have.

Written Communication – 

As a digital marketing apprentice, you must be able to show that you can communicate well across multiple platforms and to different audiences in the correct way, whether this is internal to co-workers or in terms of customer service. You must be able to speak and conduct yourself professionally and follow your company’s tone and behaviour as a company representative.  

This is a key part to your success as a digital marketer, as it is vital to show a good level of written and spoken communication. This is something future employers WILL be looking for; they need to have trust in you to speak on behalf of their company. 

Research – 

You need to do your research; research is the key to being a good digital marketer. The marketing industry is constantly changing, there are always new trends and the competition is high – can you keep up with that on behalf of the company you work for? Yes, but only if you do your research.  

For you to create a strong, long-term or short-term strategy / campaign and make educated recommendations, you have to identify the industry competitors to stand out against them and make your plan unique to theirs. You must understand your company’s SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to know where to make improvements. If you don’t keep on top of trends in the industry, it is easy to fall behind. For this reason and many more, it’s key to do your research. 

Customer services – 

Customer services is a vital skill to have. You must be able to respond to costumers in a professional manner and best advise them in a polite, informative way based on your company tone across multiple platforms. As a digital marketer you will be exposed to many situations where you will be required to communicate with customers on behalf of the company you work for, therefore this is a skill you must be able to demonstrate well. 

Analysis – 

When working in digital marketing you are required to create analytical dashboards of data on relevant platforms, such as, google analytics or data studio. You must understand that data so you can present and explain your reports to your co-workers, clients or manager. This is definitely one of the most important skills to have to better your next campaign/strategy.  

Interprets and follows – 

The digital marketing industry is forever changing with new trends, algorithms and industry standards – you must keep on top of these to be successful and keep your company ‘ahead of the game’ or it would be easy enough to fall behind in the competitive industry of marketing.  The monitoring of the changing industry will help you design unique plans to continue the growth of the business. 

Problem solving – 

In any job, this is a key skill to have; being able to identify and solve problems on your own or as a team is imperative. When implementing your plans or when new trends come into play, not everything will go to plan all of the time. You need to monitor campaigns, strategies and the industry closely so you can spot the risks/problems and find a solution to them. 

Technologies – 

As a digital marketer you will have to use many technologies/digital tools to complete tasks that are assigned to you. It is also important to use/have knowledge of these tools to help make your job easy, more efficient and to keep on top of your takes. For example, using Hootsuite (a multi-platform management tool) is useful for controlling all of your accounts in one place; from there you can schedule posts, add your hashtags etc for all different social medias. This is a better than using apps separately. You are also, able to schedule in advance and having time to put your time elsewhere. 

Digital marketing apprentice skills – Takeaway 

Image of Successful digital marketer working in a coffee shop
Successful digital marketer working in a coffee shop 

It is important to have the training and knowledge of a digital marketer, but developing the following skills is essential for making you successful in the marketing industry. For example: written communication, research, technologies, analytics, customer service, problem solving and interprets and follows. 

If you would like to learn more about the digital marketing courses, what it entails and has to offer you in terms of the development of your marketing career, please follow this link to the full page on digital marketing apprenticeships.