National Careers Week: Jordan Whelpton, Quantity Surveyor Degree Apprentice

Celebrating 25 years of apprenticeships this year, here at Intelect we have been consistently passionate when it comes to growing our own workforce and equipping our employees with ‘Skills for Life’.

As a business, we firmly believe that apprenticeships are for everyone, whether you’re starting out on your career straight from school, or you’re half way up the career ladder and looking to retrain in something new.

Trainee Quantity Surveyor, Jordan Whelpton is a great example of how you can utilise apprenticeships to change the direction of your career path. Joining Intelect in 2018 as a Level 2 Accounts Apprentice, he worked his way up to completing his Level 4 qualification, before switching to a different course for his degree apprenticeship studies.

When we spoke to him about why he chose an apprenticeship, here’s what he had to say, “After leaving school with very few GCSEs, the thought of college filled me with dread. I decided to venture into the world of work and joined a call centre conducting market research. 8 years after leaving school, I made the decision that I wanted to start a career and this was when I discovered apprenticeships.

“I remember them being mentioned in school, but I never really understood what they entailed. After a little research I found the National Apprenticeships website, and that is where I found an accountancy vacancy at Intelect. Maths was always a strong point for me and a career working with numbers seemed to be a perfect fit.

“Thankfully I got the job and then embarked on my 4-year apprenticeship studying the AAT Qualification. Being able to earn money whilst gaining a qualification seemed too good be to true, but that’s exactly what happens when you undertake an apprenticeship and the support I’ve received from Intelect has been incredible over the last few years.

“During the course of my apprenticeship, I naturally found myself swaying between my accounts role and providing additional support to the projects teams when it came to cost analysis of projects and payment applications and processes.

“As I was coming to the end of my accounts apprenticeship, I decided I wanted to follow my interests and venture into Quantity Surveying, which Intelect fully supported, as we didn’t currently have anyone doing this internally.

“I have now embarked on a 4-year degree apprenticeship in Quantity Surveying at Northumbria University, which I’ll be competing on a part-time basis. I’m really excited to see where this role goes, as so far it’s been great to get more involved in the projects side of things, following them from quotation through to completion, and getting to go on site too.

“I’m really looking forward to learning more about the contractual side of Quantity Surveying and getting more hands-on experience in the role. Looking to the future I’d really love to become a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and continue broadening my skill set.

“All things considered, my advice to anyone who is unsure when it comes to what they want to do as a career is to do some form of apprenticeship. The knowledge, experience, and qualifications that I have gained has opened doors that I never thought I could. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t the brainiest of people, don’t let your grades define you, with a little hard work anything can be achieved!”