What appealed most about Reigate College was the range of courses on offer, especially as I wanted to keep my options open. I absolutely loved the independence that came with College and organising my workday in a way that suited me. It really helped instil the importance of self-motivation and that prepared me well for the world of work.

Product Design and Engineering were always passions of mine, but I took Travel and Tourism as I was working part-time at the BA Lounge at Gatwick and thought there might also be career opportunities there. In fact, I had been thinking about a career in aircraft engineering, and my part-time job helped me sort out some work experience in the engineering hanger. While fascinating, I realised that really wasn’t where I wanted to focus, which proved useful in itself to know at that stage.

By the end of College, I wasn’t sure which route I wanted to go down more: Design or Engineering. But I did know I didn’t want to go to uni. I do have to confess that I did leave it a bit late to start looking for a job so the pressure got pretty real and I started applying for different opportunities.

I found myself invited to a video-based interview while on holiday, with no appropriate workwear with me! Dressing up in my mum’s dress, I found a plain background in the hotel room and was thankfully offered a face-to-face interview on my return. This led to an apprenticeship offer as a Lighting Application Specialist with Signify: a job which had a great blend of technical and creative skills. There I learnt how to design the lighting plans for commercial buildings – everything from the concept and creative side of things through to the technical elements and compliance with all sorts of health and safety standards. It felt like the best of both worlds in terms of my interests.

At the end of my apprenticeship the Signify HR team asked where I’d like to focus for my future development as a full-time employee. Having grown my skills and seen all sorts of different roles on offer, I realised I enjoyed presenting, customer contact and the more creative side of the job. So, while there was the opportunity to develop further in my old department, I moved into the sales side of the business – a real benefit of being in a global organisation is that you get the chance to move around and try new things. Signify has further supported me to do a Business and Marketing degree, which has given me a wider view of decision-making and planning across the organisation.

For any students wondering about their choices and next steps I’d say don’t write something off before you understand what’s involved in a job. And finding out what you do like can be an exercise in elimination, which may sound like a negative, but actually, knowing what you don’t enjoy can help you get one step closer to what you’ll love.

Annabel Ashwick
Reigate College: 2017-2019
Higher education: Level 4 Engineering apprenticeship with Farnborough College of Technology while working as a Lighting Application Specialist at Signify
Currently: Specification Support Specialist at Signify while completing a BA (Hons) Business and Marketing at the University of Winchester