Ben Boatman is a Corporate Procurement Officer at Reading Borough Council and started his journey on the Level 4 Apprenticeship with APA in November 2022 shortly after commencing his role with the council.
NH. Congratulations on achieving distinction for your End Point Assessment on the Level 4 Apprenticeship Ben! Were you new to procurement when you commenced the apprenticeship, or did you have previous experience?
“Thank you, and it is not without thanks to APA and Amanda Pederson for all of the support throughout the process.
I was new to procurement, with some transferable skills from a previous commissioning role I had in Children’s Services. The procurement role really opened up my eyes to way local authorities spend public money, the complex processes they follow and the rules and regulations they have to adhere to.”
NH. What new knowledge did you gain by doing the apprenticeship, what areas do you now know more about?
“Doing the apprenticeship certainly developed my skills and knowledge quickly, newly coming into the role. It was good to learn about and understand elements such as the detail of the procurement cycle, the five rights of procurement, direct and indirect costs (inc fixed, variable), understanding the sectors, requirements/specification development, understanding business needs, Incoterms, commercial negotiations (which helped me develop a negotiation plan for RBC), ethical sourcing, sustainability, the various models/frameworks (Kraljic, Carters 10Cs, Mendelow matrix etc), total cost of ownership, contracts (inc implied terms and express terms), what constitutes a contract, understanding the various systems such as Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), market share, stakeholders, even warehousing was interesting to understand. So much to take in and learn, and so much I just didn’t realise and/or appreciate. The whole course gave me more and more confidence to give advice to colleagues and work on more high value and complex procurements. The key phrase is confidence, this apprenticeship has given me so much confidence in my ability to support Reading in its procurements.”
NH. How did you find the apprenticeship as a whole, was it a lot of hard work? How did you find APA as a training provider?
“I cannot fault APA as a training provider. The support throughout was invaluable. I had to complete my Level 2 Maths also, which APA supported me with. I would highly recommend APA without any hesitation.
I have always been honest with my tutor and line manager that I am not academic and do not relish in the thought of studying. I am more of get things done, learn on the job type of person. I did find it a struggle at points to study, and heavily relied on the weekly lessons. I always found an excuse not to study in my own time and on the whole concentrated on my own work projects over studying. So, the weekly group lessons I joined got me through it all, without a doubt. The great thing with the lessons is that you receive well informed teaching from the tutor and the opportunity to discuss set topics as a wider group and regular break-out sessions. The groups are made up of people from various business sectors and sometimes other countries. This helped me understand how other sectors approach procurements and was interesting to hear about other people’s experiences in the workplace and discuss exams/prep/study techniques.
Self-study clearly was not for me, otherwise I may have chucked in the towel. I would recommend the tutor/lessons option if others are similar to me.”
NH. What did you cover in your End Point Assessment, and did you enjoy the process?
“The end point assessment was challenging at the start, trying to piece all the information together, research and references. But it all seemed to come together nicely towards the end and with the support from my tutor Amanda.
I am confident writing reports, but this assessment covered literature reviews and Harvard referencing which was completely alien to me, and something I will avoid in future at all costs. But joking aside, good experience and learning.
The topic of my assessment focussed on a project I had managed, and this really helped knowing all the detail and rationale for decision making, for example.”
NH. Now that you have the Level 4 Diploma and Level 4 Apprenticeship under your belt, what does the future hold for you? Will you be studying towards Level 5, 6 and MCIPS? Are you looking for career progression?
“Having the Level 4 Diploma will help me if I want to apply for other job roles in or out of the public sector. As I am still relatively new, my main aim is to be excellent in my role, be that person colleagues can rely on and feel comfortable approaching for advice. Currently my focus is to develop my skills at Reading Borough Council and my knowledge of public sector procurement, as I approach my two-year anniversary in the job and the upcoming Procurement Act 2023. Lots to learn here and develop within the council. Level 5 and 6 may certainly be on the cards for the future, I certainly wouldn’t rule it out and I would prefer to work with APA if I was to take on these courses.”