Happy Apprenticeship Week 2022 – June

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” David Ogilvy

January 2015 My Mustard had been running for eight years; team of three, lovely customers, healthy bank balance, things were ticking over nicely.

January 2016 Following a whirlwind year of networking, awards sponsorship, and online activity the phone was ringing and the email pinging, a little too much.

February 2016 How could we take on new clients, continue to offer great service and value to our existing clients and fund it without jeopardising the bottom line? More bodies.

March 2016 We scoured LinkedIn, wrote/rewrote endless job descriptions, talked to networking colleagues, looked at other agency set ups, and nothing felt right.

April 2016 We needed new. We needed different. We needed young.

May 2016 We decided to Grow Our Own and with the support of Oaklands College and Hertfordshire Growth Hub we found the solution – apprenticeships.

June 2016 We decided on the Business Administration Level 3 qualification as I wanted the next wave of Mustardeers to get a thorough understanding of the business world. 

July 2016 We found Chloe, a super smart young woman, bright enough to go to university but with a desire to continue her learning whilst earning. 

August 2016 We created a step-by-step guide to the business world, how My Mustard fit in commercially, what our vision was and how she would play a key role. 

September 2016 The assessor from Oaklands College began to visit Chloe in the workplace to ensure that the study dovetailed into real life and vice versa.

September 2017 Fast forward a year: Chloe completes her Level 3 Apprenticeship with flying colours. Yippee! 

September 2017 Enter stage left Hugh: A man at My Mustard, who knew? He started making an immediate impact in the marketing department whilst studying for his Level 4 Business qualification.

June 2018 We join proud members of the 5% Club, a dynamic movement of employer-members working to create a shared prosperity across the UK by driving ‘earn and learn’ skills training opportunities. 

July 2018 Max joins in MM’s first creative role, as well as studying for his Level 3 Business Admin qualification. 

March 2019 Hugh aces his Level 4; his client base now includes several multimillion businesses.

May 2019 We are finalists at the Biz4Biz Awards for Best Apprenticeship Programme. Well chuffed.

July 2019 Kate joins the team onboarding new advertising clients and working towards her Level 3 apprenticeship.

October 2019 Max competes his study and starts to redesign our website.

March 2020 The C word. Half of Team MM are working mums so become furloughed homeschoolers overnight and the team of apprentices is left with The Boss helping steer our ship. And they do a bloody brilliant job, not least because they understand business from their studies. 

October 2020 Kate completed her qualification in record time and has a client base spending more than £2 million a year.

September 2021 Imogen joins us with a Level 3 qualification under her belt already so cracks on with a Level 4 in Marketing with Cambridge Marketing College.

October 2021 Kate is showing a real skill in revenue generation so starts her new qualification: Sales Level 4 with HIT Training.

November 2021 Jo Connell OBE and John Howie Hertfordshire Deputy Lieutenants engaged in proactive recognition and celebration of excellence in Apprenticeships pop in for a cuppa and a chat with the team.

June is happy to talk to any Hertfordshire employers about our consistently positive experience of growing your own people, contact hello@mymustard.co.uk

Happy Apprenticeship Week 2022!

#earnwhileyoulearn