Meet our Apprentices

Case Study – Meet Charlie

Discover the real-life story of Charlie’s journey through Skybreak, where she started off joining the company as an apprentice and following her achievement with a distinction level qualification in a Customer Service Apprenticeship, secured a permanent role within the team as a qualified Sales & Ticketing agent.

Here, we look back at her journey starting Skybreak as an apprentice as she talks about how she made this decision, how this expands her skills and her advice for future apprentices.

How did you come across the opportunity with Skybreak?

Finding the application online through Indeed based in a field I was interested in encouraged me to apply. Without travel and tourism workplace experience, my qualification in Travel & Tourism Level 3 Diploma secured me an apprenticeship position with Skybreak in Customer Services.

Why did you choose an apprenticeship and what did your decision-making process look like?

Evaluating my options, this felt the best choice to enhance my own experience with a company specialised in the travel industry even though this came with an apprenticeship. This gave me an opportunity to explore a role with an extensive career opportunity.

What did your day-to-day look like as an apprentice?

My responsibility was to support and provide core services at Skybreak such as passenger travel recovery, ticketing and lost property for airline partners, and providing an enhanced level of customer service to London Gatwick passengers. Being the first point of call for passenger enquiries, I was able to provide options and advice, and in the event, I was unable to support I referred the passenger to more experienced colleagues for support. Working on behalf of key Airline partners allowed me to expand my knowledge and explore ticketing services on systems Amadeus, Skyspeed and Avantik offering re-booking options and payment collections on the airlines behalf, which was a new skillset I was yet to acquire.

What kind of support did you have?

The college provided bi-weekly workshops on customer service modules, with independent coursework set which was based on live examples from my day-to-day role. I was assigned a dedicated accessor who provided 1 to 1 sessions at my workplace or via Teams, to go through coursework progress and recommendations for improvements.

My workplace allocated 25% of my hours to study time, giving me the opportunity to focus on my coursework, as well as my accommodations for all of my workshops and sessions instructed by the college. My line managers were pro-active in reviewing my coursework providing accurate testimonials and witness accounts relevant to my role.  

My colleagues and managers continued to support my journey by arranging appropriate training to maximise my skillset, as well as sharing their own knowledge to enhance my ability to perform the role.

How did your apprentice qualification support your developments in further roles?

A qualification like “Customer Service Practitioner” can be used throughout multiple businesses to support any customer facing role, and with my current job I have an opportunity to consistently improve these skills with the increase of passenger footfall through the airport. I was able to use the customer service skills I learnt to aid in providing the best possible customer experience, tailoring the service I provided to each passenger’s needs.

Starting with an apprenticeship presented me with opportunities to enhance my knowledge whilst obtaining the skills fit to other roles, and this gave me an advantage when applying for promotions within the business.

Having completed a qualification looks great but I was also able to show the company first-hand what I had learnt throughout my progression journey which secured me an additional place as a training agent.

What advice would you give to somebody who is considering an apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship can be a great gateway into a career development, there will always be an abundance of learning opportunities that can set you up within your chosen field. You can learn things with an apprenticeship that you might not always learn directly on the job, and use this skill to share with other colleagues.