Demonstrating Leadership as an Apprentice | by Salvatore Marziano

As an apprentice, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you are not in a position to lead. You may think that since you are in a learning phase, you cannot be in a position to guide and influence others. This could not be further from the truth. 

The truth is that leadership occurs at all levels and all stages of one's career and it isn’t just a given role within society but more a skill set that you use in different scenarios and situations. There may be some times when you as an apprentice are in a position to demonstrate leadership and other times when you will be on the receiving end of some guidance; and both are completely fine. It is all about growing in confidence to show your different qualities. One way that I managed to do this during my apprenticeship was by utilising the Multiverse community to build on my knowledge and grow confidence in my role. Here are some of the things that I did that I recommend:

• Elevate - Leadership development programme which helped to build skills within the actual area. 
• Outreach squad - Going to different outreach events really allowed me to work on guiding those who may have been in a similar position to what I was previously. 
• Virtual events - Hearing from some great leaders and their successes is something that I would always recommend as it always left me inspired to follow in their footsteps. 

Leadership is all about your influence and impact on other people. The greatest leaders always take the people that they are looking to lead into consideration. I think a great way to demonstrate this on a smaller scale is by mentoring others. Each and every individual has unique experiences that someone else can learn from, even as an apprentice. In fact, I’d go as far as to say ESPECIALLY as an apprentice because apprenticeships are the non-traditional route to a successful career. This means that doing an apprenticeship will give you many unique experiences that your peers may not have experienced before. That is what makes your knowledge even more valuable than you’d anticipate.

I have always been a firm believer in “if you are not in a position to lead by authority, then lead by example”. Now you may be thinking: What does this mean? Essentially, this means that you can still inspire others by doing fantastic work and achieving fantastic things. There may be those debating whether or not to pursue an apprenticeship and your example may help them on the right path. You don’t necessarily have to be the loudest in the room, have the most authority or even be the smartest. f you truly believe in yourself to go above and beyond to do your best and demonstrate your value, then you can set an example not just for your peers and colleagues but also for all other apprentices 

To conclude, leadership can mean many different things to many different people. But ask yourself, how are you going to be a leader today, tomorrow and moving forward? 

Salvatore Marziano is a Project Management Alumni based in London is a Candidate Success associate, business administration alumnus, and current Business transformation apprentice based in the UK. Here's more about him:

"I enjoy discourse and conversation. My aim is to present the reality of university alternatives and share the experience of my journey whilst including the highs and the lows to its full transparency."