Business and Administration

Apprenticeships in business and administration are designed for people who work in roles that involve organising, supporting or supervising people and resources. Jobs that business and administration apprentices either do or are working towards include:

• Administration assistant
• PA/Secretary
• Patient records administrator
• Data entry clerk
• Office Administrator
• Office Manager

Damar's business and administration apprentices work in a wide range of sectors including: law, accountancy, healthcare, financial services, property, media, manufacturing and distribution.

Business and administration can be a stepping stone towards more specialist apprenticeships such as accounts or team leading.

The intermediate apprenticeship is suitable for people who carry out a range of administrative work but do not have responsibility for managing people, systems or tasks.

The advanced apprenticeship is suitable for staff who have some supervisory responsibility in addition to carrying out administrative tasks.

What you learn will depend on your job. In all cases you will complete:

A technical certificate which will develop your knowledge and understanding of your area of work. For some roles, such as legal secretary and medical administrator, we offer specialist technical certificates. The technical certificate involves training both in the workplace and (in many cases) at our training centre in Stockport, as well as assessment via online tests.

Key skills in communication, application of number and IT. Unlike school exams, these are designed to ensure that you have the skills in maths, English and IT that you need at work. We support you with 1:1 and small group training where necessary. Key skills are assessed by way of a portfolio (which will be related to your job) and online tests.

A National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). The NVQ is designed to develop and assess your competence in your job role. It is mostly completed at work with the support of your Damar assessor. As well as mandatory components assessing the key competencies that any employee requires, such as self organisation and time management, effective communication, productive team working and the ability to improve their own performance, each apprenticeship can be tailored to meet the needs of their sector.

Here are what two of our apprentices might learn: