Monika Sunda was 15 years old and waiting for her GCSE results, when she interviewed for an apprenticeship with Bedford Borough Council.
Two years later she is a Democratic & Electoral Services Officer at Borough Hall, and she shared her experiences of growing up in the workplace.
“I had just turned 16 when I started, the youngest person in Borough Hall,” she said. “From the first day I’ve had so much support, and feel I’ve done a lot of growing up.
“That’s one of the best things about doing an apprenticeship in a professional environment; you meet different people every day, in different roles and different departments. You don’t just learn directly from them, you’re also influenced by seeing how they work. One of the biggest influences has been Pishminder Kumari, who has been so good at showing me how to learn from every experience and helping me accept that sometimes you learn by making mistakes.”
Monika added; “I have friends of my age who have just finished their A Levels, but a lot of them wonder if they should have taken the route I did rather than go to college or sixth form.
“Going straight into an apprenticeship is one of the best things I’ve ever done, I get real satisfaction from my work every day. I used to be very shy, I wouldn’t talk to people unless they spoke to me first. But managers like Catherine Cole and Lesley Blue have had confidence in me every day and it’s changed me into a more confident person.”
As part of the Democratic Services team Monika played a key role in multiple elections this year, including for the Police and Crime Commissioner, the general election, and by-elections in Riverfield and Wyboston wards.
Monika said; “When it’s election time there’s a lot of tasks that come at you all at once, so it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. That’s one of the things I enjoy about this team – we all work together to stay on top of things, and make sure that we get everything done.
“There were some long days, including working 18 hours on election day. I was on the phones answering the calls during the daytime. People had all sorts of queries, from ‘Where is my polling station?’ to ‘Can I vote tomorrow instead?’
“We didn’t finish until 5.30am, but we were all still smiling at the end. We were tired – but still smiling!”