Uptree

Uptree works with schools and colleges across the UK, building long lasting connections with teachers and students to help bridge the gap between education and employment. Uptree have been working with Reigate College since 2020 and have delivered multiple employability workshops to their students over the past few years. Thanks to this partnership, one of Reigate’s students, Ashley, was able to secure her dream apprenticeship with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.

Ashley first signed up to Uptree to learn more about work experience opportunities. As part of her Uptree sign up process, she signed up to receive regular emails from Uptree about upcoming events and roles that Employer Partners have open.

At college, Ashley initially wasn’t too sure about what route to take once she finished her studies, but seeing the opportunities promoted through Uptree gave her the confidence to just apply.

“I wasn’t entirely confident if I was gonna get one or not because as we know, they are very competitive and hard to get and hard to come by.”

“I just saw it in an email and thought ‘oh, I’ll just apply, why not?’.”

Even though Ashley’s college regularly shared apprenticeship opportunities with all their students through their careers bulletin and she herself did a lot of independent research, Uptree’s mailing list was the only place where Ashley had seen the CCEP Merchandiser role promoted.

“If I wasn’t signed up to Uptree I would have never applied for this apprenticeship because I had never heard of it. Through Uptree, I found the opportunity that I am currently in now. So without Uptree’s support and their mailing list, I wouldn’t have found out about Coca-Cola [Europacific Partners]’s apprenticeship.”

Ashley has loved her first year as a Merchandiser apprentice, and is excited to l be moving into the role of Away From Home Sales Rep. Her advice to future students is to “just be yourself and follow your own path”, highlighting the importance of not being “scared of rejection and [having] some perseverance when applying to apprenticeships”.