I moved to the UK when I was 18. Originally, I’m from Germany, and when I first came here my English language skills weren’t great. I knew I wanted to do an apprenticeship, but I had to look up how to say the word in English before I could start to apply for one.
Once I’d worked on my language skills, I found an advert about the Manchester Training and Enterprise Council – the origins of the Growth Company. I initially thought they were going to help me find an apprenticeship in another company, but I found out they were recruiting apprentices for their own organisation and I ended up securing one with them. I felt so lucky – I was one of eight people to secure a spot and that was the beginning of my career with GC in 1998.
As an apprentice, I moved around different departments at GC and started off at Tameside College site in a customer service and support role, before beginning a rota of placements in a number of GC locations in educational settings.
My experience as an apprentice shaped the person I am today. I really appreciated the patience and support that was shown to me, especially as English wasn’t my first language, I never felt like I didn’t fit in, it was always a great environment to be in, even when I didn’t understand some of the terminology I was writing down as part of the meeting minutes I was capturing! As part of the apprenticeship, I was assigned a mentor and that was the most amazing thing for me.
After I completed my Apprenticeship Level 2 and Level 3 in Business Admin with GC, I took a few different roles as my career progressed. As my job titles changed, so did the evolution of GC.
Initially I worked in Apprenticeship Recruitment followed by Apprenticeship Sales for various departments. This latter role meant I got to go out and meet various external clients and tell them about the apprenticeships we offered. Later, I moved on to become a Skills Development Tutor and even trained to be an Internal Quality Assurer as well.
I've always been passionate about telling people what we do here at GC, and how we do it – and then making that match between the employer and the individual.
I’m now a Regional Account Manager and look after companies that want to upskill their workforce in accountancy roles from Level 2 to Level 4, or if they wish to recruit an apprentice. So, if you know of anybody who's interested in accountancy, such as clients, friends, family members, companies you deal with, I’d love to hear from them: Nicole.Isselbaecher@gceducationandskills.ac.uk.
In my 25 years at GC, I’ve supported various projects. I really enjoy being able to help and support the wider team, reflecting our GC values.
So much has changed over the years and what we offer has expanded – GC is always developing and diversifying which means there are always lots of new opportunities and things to explore.
I believe in what GC stands for and it’s wonderful to be part of something that's helped so many businesses and individuals over the years.