From Apprentice to the Board Room: Julie Agnew

We recently spoke to Julie Agnew, Executive Director for Construction, Delivery & Network Expansion at Virgin Media who also started from the bottom and worked her way to the top.

With the experience of working in organisations ranging from the US Embassy to Microsoft and even Lexus, Julie talks to us about how her apprenticeship gave her a unique insight into the world of business that has shaped her entire career.

Please give a brief description of your career history.

I left school aged 17 and started working as an office junior for a large Architectural Practice. After working in two more Architectural based practices, I decided to move from office management into a call centre environment and joined a Liverpool-based direct marketing company.

I then spent some years running various outsourced call centres for the US Embassy, Microsoft, Lexus, Scottish Power & Scottish Telecom.  I spent two years with Kingston Communications in East Yorkshire before joining Telewest which later merged with NTL and then became Virgin Media.

What apprenticeship programme did you do and how long did it take to complete?

My Apprenticeship was in Office/Business Management where I worked Monday to Friday, 9-5pm and attended night school where I learned the theory of Accountancy and Business Management for two nights per week – this programme lasted for 2 years and then it was ongoing learning.

How has completing an apprenticeship benefited you in your career?

I think that working from the grass roots up really helps you understand how the business works – even at the very basic end of the scale. I continually learned across process, systems and technology.

The more experience I gained, the more I learned you could apply the same theory to a back-office operation in an architects’ office to a call centre to a field operation etc. So completing an apprenticeship has been very beneficial for my career.

Learning how everything works from the bottom up gives you great insight - especially when facing new challenges and issues. I have not yet faced an operational issue or a failing operation and been defeated… there is always an answer.

How do you see the relationship between apprentices and the current skills gap we are seeing in the industry?

Apprentice schemes enable organisations like Virgin Media to tap into new markets such as career returners and changers as well as helping to increase the number of opportunities created for workers with disability and female talent. By creating apprenticeships across a wide range of disciplines including finance, business planning, engineering, HR, law, data analytics and field technician roles, we open up opportunities to as many people as we can.

In VM, the schemes are hugely successful with 85% of our apprentices still working with us 12 months after completing their scheme and an amazing 55% of our first intake 10 years ago still being part of the Virgin Media Family.

Last year we were the first technology company to sign a pledge committing to increasing the number of women across our apprenticeships. I’m delighted that the pledge, as well as new apprenticeships introduced last year, has helped us increase our female enrolments by 66% between 2016 and 2017, a key achievement in supporting our ambitious target of having a 50/50 balance of men and women at all job levels by 2025.

What advice would you give to the younger generation considering an apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship is a fantastic foundation to your career, you may not end up later in life in the same field or industry – but you are constantly learning, you get hands-on experience, you grow as a person and you meet lots of people who help, support and nurture you… some will stay with you throughout your career for advice or check-in. What reason is there not to do it?

Are you looking to enhance your career through an Apprenticeship programme? At Intercity Technology in September 2018, we're launching a brand-new Apprenticeship Scheme allowing you to earn and learn at the same time. Learn more here.