Speaker: Lucy Pankhurst, Rotational Apprentice, Cardinal Global Logistics
Could you introduce yourself, your role, and what led you to choose the Level 3 International Freight Forwarding Apprenticeship?
Lucy Pankhurst: Hi, my name's Lucy Pankhurst, and I'm a rotational apprentice at Cardinal Global Logistics. I first heard of Freight Forwarding when I was looking for supply chain and logistics apprenticeships, after I finished my A Levels. That's when I came across Freight Forwarding and read more into it and I was really intrigued about, doing that as a qualification over the standard like, business admin type qualifications that came with a lot of supply chain and logistics apprenticeships. So when I came across and discovered that Cardinal did that and that Cardinal rotated their apprenticeships around the business and around their different departments. I was really interested about doing a more unique qualification and having better work experience by going in lots of departments.
How would you describe your experience working with the Seetec team, and what support has been most valuable?
Lucy Pankhurst: My experience with the Seetec team has been completely fantastic, especially with my tutor Kerrie. She's so helpful, she always makes sure that she explains everything in lots of detail, answers any questions you've got, big or small or silly or whatever it is. If a couple of weeks later you've still got another question, she's happy to answer it, whether that be over email or another Teams call to go into it in more detail. She's always given you lots of examples of what you can do, what maybe you can't do. She always sends out useful links like to the BIFA events and newsletters of what's going on in the industry. She doesn't just help you with the qualification, but she helps you with your overall knowledge of the industry and Freight Forwarding, and she gives a lot about her knowledge of her time working in Freight Forwarding and she's just lovely really.
What new skills, knowledge, or confidence have you gained during your apprenticeship journey so far?
Lucy Pankhurst: There are definitely lots of new skills, knowledge and confidence that I have learned and gained throughout my apprenticeship so far. In just 11 months I've learned so much from my IT skills and being able to do a lot more in emails and Word and Microsoft and being probably a lot faster typer than I used to be, from learning and using some of our internal software at Cardinal, my knowledge is definitely, Increased loads, I didn't know anything about Freight Forwarding before I entered the industry, from one, the difference between an SEL and an LCL to customs clearances, I really learn a lot and I feel like, I actually know what it is, I can explain what it is and so much that we do, I've gained So much confidence, I've attended a couple of BIFA events in person and my 1st one month into my apprenticeship was very daunting, but now like 11 months into my apprenticeship, I'd definitely be happy to go to more and feel confident going to them.
What has been your biggest achievement or proudest moment so far?
Lucy Pankhurst: I think my probably biggest and proudest achievement so far was completing the BIFA customs course. So I did the 4 day BIFA customs course with the exam and the coursework included with it. At Cardinal we have a separate office in Liverpool that deals with a lot of our customs, so as part of my rotation. I hadn't really had a lot of interactions before, I was kind of just sending them off to the other department and receiving them cleared or not cleared was like as much knowledge as I had, so going customs is definitely a big topic, I've had whirlwind, lots of things, lots of confusions and little details about a shipment that can massively affect how the customs are done and what duties and stuff are paid on it. So it was definitely hard work, but I'm really proud of myself for getting a merit in it, I'm passing and feel like I came away with so much knowledge and it's such a difficult course that I feel like I did very well in it and everyone that passes does really well.
What would you say to someone considering the Level 3 International Freight Forwarding Apprenticeship?
Lucy Pankhurst: If you're someone that's considering doing the Level 3 international Freight Forwarding qualification, if you're interested in anything, supply chain, logistics, transport, definitely do it. It's such a unique qualification that gives you so much insight into the industry. Over like a standard supply chain or business admin qualification, definitely opens up a lot of doors in a lot of sectors, it's not all just operational, you can do lots of things, you can do ocean, air, road, so there's lots of opportunities and I would say you learn so much about the industry, it's actually really interesting, and to see the scale of operations that goes on and all the people involved and all the different aspects of the chain, from start to finish there's loads of things that you can go into and it's really useful to have the qualification to see everything as an overview, even if you're doing one particular part of the chain in your role, the qualification makes you understand the whole process, so that if you come across any problems then you understand more about what other people do, and the problems that they may be facing as well. I would definitely say go for it because it's great.
