0:00:04 Hi, I’m Myles Neal. I’m a BT customer service apprentice and I work in Leicester. My apprenticeship involves me taking phone calls for residential landline faults and repairing customers’ telephone service. Day to day, I’ll be making sure that service is resumed as quickly as possible and that customers receive the best possible service they can and getting it right first time for them.
00:00:29 I was in between two lines of whether to go to university and a business degree or whether to go into the real working world and do more educational based training. I accidentally stumbled across the BT apprenticeship programme on My Space, applied for it. The application was around eight months, and then we were selected through interviews and application stages. I began my career in September 2007.
00:00:57 The major turning point within my life would have to be that advert within My Space which I found the apprenticeship in because until then I was filling out my UCASS, getting ready to go to University of West England to study business and follow the general career path which most people today view as the correct way to go down. When I found that advert, I thought ‘Why not? Let’s give it a shot and just jump into something which I really didn’t know about,’ which at the time, reflecting back, may have been a little silly, you know. I should have probably investigated it a lot more, but I thought ‘Big company, put my foot in the door and work my way up.’ That’s how I’ve always viewed myself as being a really motivated person, knowing that I’ve got talent, I’ve got attributes, which I can use and they’ll be recognised as long as I’ve got myself into a big company.
00:01:45 My family has always been a bit undecided about kind of my whole career options and education and everything. It has always kind of been an individual choice for me to… whether I was to go to university or into a career, so they were supportive either way. They were a bit reluctant to begin with, believing that, you know, university might have been a better option. I might have got the degree which would have led to a better job, but now that they’ve seen the development and also the opportunities which I’ve taken, they’re very supportive and believe that I made the right choice.
00:02:16 I love my sport, my x-box, and also my music. I’m a big trans fan, so you’ll probably catch me usually at the big clubs like, you know, Gate Gun, Gate Crasher, God’s Kitchen in Birmingham, you know, Emporium in Coalville, so the usual kind of hard rave clubs. I love my movies. I’m a big film fan. I studied film studies at A level. I love all my film and everything like that, and good thrillers. So a good piece of acting or drama usually makes me quite happy, so I like to go to the theatre a lot, down to the West End. I love my sports. I’m a big football fan, Leicester City fan. We will get back to the Premiership. We will. We are determined. We may not have Martin O’Neill but we will get back there.
00:03:01 I guess my friends have always been a real inspirational point to me. I’ve always been motivated by I want to be able to give my family and friends… the dream is to have the ultimate amount of money so that you can provide for everybody, and that has always been something which motivates me, being able to make sure that, you know, I’m sturdy, I can provide, I can make sure that I’m having a happy life and enjoying it, and, you know, ideally, everybody wants to be in a job which they really enjoy and they’re motivated to actually go to work. They’re working because it’s gratifying. That’s where I see, hopefully, my future career being in something which, you know, don’t feel as if I’m in it for the money or anything like that but something which I thoroughly enjoy, and I feel as if I’m progressing to that at the moment.
Myles Neal
Myles Neal
Hi, I’m Myles Neal. I’m a BT customer service apprentice and I work in Leicester. My apprenticeship involves me taking phone calls for residential landline faults and repairing customers’ telephone service. Day to day, I’ll be making sure that service is resumed as quickly as possible and that customers receive the best possible service they can and getting it right first time for them.
I was in between two lines of whether to go to university and a business degree or whether to go into the real working world and do more educational based training. I accidentally stumbled across the BT apprenticeship programme on My Space, applied for it. The application was around eight months, and then we were selected through interviews and application stages. I began my career in September 2007.
The major turning point within my life would have to be that advert within My Space which I found the apprenticeship in because until then I was filling out my UCASS, getting ready to go to University of West England to study business and follow the general career path which most people today view as the correct way to go down. When I found that advert, I thought ‘Why not? Let’s give it a shot and just jump into something which I really didn’t know about,’ which at the time, reflecting back, may have been a little silly, you know. I should have probably investigated it a lot more, but I thought ‘Big company, put my foot in the door and work my way up.’ That’s how I’ve always viewed myself as being a really motivated person, knowing that I’ve got talent, I’ve got attributes, which I can use and they’ll be recognised as long as I’ve got myself into a big company.
My family has always been a bit undecided about kind of my whole career options and education and everything. It has always kind of been an individual choice for me to… whether I was to go to university or into a career, so they were supportive either way. They were a bit reluctant to begin with, believing that, you know, university might have been a better option. I might have got the degree which would have led to a better job, but now that they’ve seen the development and also the opportunities which I’ve taken, they’re very supportive and believe that I made the right choice.
I love my sport, my x-box, and also my music. I’m a big trans fan, so you’ll probably catch me usually at the big clubs like, you know, Gate Gun, Gate Crasher, God’s Kitchen in Birmingham, you know, Emporium in Coalville, so the usual kind of hard rave clubs. I love my movies. I’m a big film fan. I studied film studies at A level. I love all my film and everything like that, and good thrillers. So a good piece of acting or drama usually makes me quite happy, so I like to go to the theatre a lot, down to the West End. I love my sports. I’m a big football fan, Leicester City fan. We will get back to the Premiership. We will. We are determined. We may not have Martin O’Neill but we will get back there.
I guess my friends have always been a real inspirational point to me. I’ve always been motivated by I want to be able to give my family and friends… the dream is to have the ultimate amount of money so that you can provide for everybody, and that has always been something which motivates me, being able to make sure that, you know, I’m sturdy, I can provide, I can make sure that I’m having a happy life and enjoying it, and, you know, ideally, everybody wants to be in a job which they really enjoy and they’re motivated to actually go to work. They’re working because it’s gratifying. That’s where I see, hopefully, my future career being in something which, you know, don’t feel as if I’m in it for the money or anything like that but something which I thoroughly enjoy, and I feel as if I’m progressing to that at the moment.
Myles works in Customer Services, he stumbled across the apprenticeship programme on MySpace, applied for it and got the place which he chose over going to University. His plan was to get in to a big company and work his way up.
External links
The Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology
