Business Administrator - Advanced Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship Summary
Business administrators have a highly transferable set of knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be applied to all kinds of industries and across all types of organisations. Working in either the private, public or charitable sectors, their primary role is to develop, implement, maintain and improve administrative services across the organisation.
Often the lynch pin of an organisation, the business administrator can act as a conduit through which various areas of the organisation communicate with each other and it is therefore vital that they themselves are organised and highly responsive. Being both proactive and reactive in the role is vital as this facilitates the smooth running of the business in busy and challenging periods.
This apprenticeship is ideal for larger companies looking to grow their administrative team to compete with the demands of an increasing workload and smaller organisations employing a business administrator for the first time to take the admin load off colleagues, allowing them to focus on their specialisms. Good business administrators, whilst not necessarily profit-generating in their own right, can save organisations critical time and money ensuring resources are put to good use, work is co-ordinated effectively and waste is minimised.
Apprenticeship standard dates
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Next steps
As an Employer
If you would like to offer this as an apprenticeship vacancy within your organisation, enrol one of your existing employees on this apprenticeship or simply find out more about supporting an apprenticeship within your organisation, please complete the Enquire Now form above and a member of our Business Development Team will be in touch within 2 working days to advise you on next steps.
As an Apprentice
If you are interested in securing an apprenticeship as a Business Administrator, please visit our Vacancies page to check for any suitable roles.
If there are currently no roles available, please submit an enquiry form using the Enquire Now button above to register your interest. We will use this information to let you know when a suitable vacancy becomes available and also to advise you of any courses we offer that might advance your career goals in the meantime.
Key information
Entry Requirements
This course is for adults aged 16 and over and ideally suited for people working in a business environment working 30 hours or more.
You will need to complete an Initial assessment. The entry requirement for this apprenticeship will be decided by each employer but may typically be five GCSEs at Grade C or higher.
How will the Apprenticeship be funded?
As the employer
How your apprenticeship is funded will depend on whether or not you pay the Apprenticeship Levy. If you do pay the Levy, your apprenticeship will be funded out of this, provided you have sufficient monies available. If you do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, 95% of the apprenticeship will be funded by the Government, with the remaining 5% being funded by you. There may also be some further incentives offered by the Government which we will be able to advise you of when setting up your apprenticeship. Either way, B&FC's Business Development Team will be on hand to help you navigate the funding arrangements and support you through this process.
As the apprentice
One of the benefits of an apprenticeship is that, as the apprentice, you are not required to fund your training. You will also receive a wage for the work that you do with minimum hourly rates set by the Government. Your employer can choose to pay you more than the minimum wage, but they cannot pay you less. For details of current minimum wage rates for apprentices, please visit the Government website.
What will my Apprentice learn?
Knowledge
By the end of their apprenticeship, your apprentice should understand:
- The organisations's purpose, activities, aims, values, vision for the future, resources and the way the political/economic environment affects the organisation.
- How their role and their work fit into and benefit the organisation.
- The organisation's stakeholders and their individual relationships to the business.
- The relevant laws and regulations that apply to their role including data protection and health and safety.
- The internal policies of the organisation and key business policies relating to the sector more generally.
- Business principles such as change management, business finances and project management.
- Organisational processes both at a specific and generic level, particularly financial processes such as invoicing and purchasing.
- External environmental factors that impact the business such as market forces, regulatory changes, supply chain issues, economic downturn.
Skills
Your apprentice should be able to:
- Use a full range of IT packages and systems to write letters and emails, create documents, perform financial calculations and record and process data.
- Keep and maintain accurate records.
- Create and maintain a paper-based or digital filing system
- Exercise good judgement and be proactive, making effective decisions, including knowing when to delegate and escalate.
- Build and maintain positive relationships across the organisation working cooperatively with colleagues and developing coaching skills as they gain more knowledge.
- Demonstrate good communication skills both internally and externally.
- Complete tasks to a high standard, making improvements to office efficiency and sharing administrative best practice.
- Take responsibility for initiating and completing tasks, manage priorities and time in order to meet deadlines. Organise meetings and events, take minutes during meetings and take responsibility for logistics (e.g. travel and accommodation).
- Mange resources and ensure that the office is sufficiently equipped and stocked.
Behaviours
Your apprentice should be able to:
- Demonstrate professionalism in everything they do and act as a role model to more junior colleagues.
- Display exemplary qualities that are valued in business such as integrity, reliability, self-motivation and accountability.
- Take responsibility for their own work and accept constructive feedback, use initiative and show resilience.
- Adapt to changing priorities related both to their own work and to the organisation.
Expert Tutors
All tutors involved in the delivery of courses and apprenticeships within the College are approved to teach the subjects and modules they deliver.
Our recruitment process ensures that tutors delivering a given programme are suitably qualified and, where appropriate, possess relevant technical and industrial experience and a familiarity with professional practice. This is especially important for apprenticeships where off-the-job training needs to align with apprentices' on-the-job experience.
How will the Apprenticeship be delivered?
The apprenticeship will typically be delivered over a 24-month period with additional time required to prepare for the End Point Assessment. Apprentices' time will typically be split 80:20 throughout the apprenticeship programme with four days a week spent at the employer premises learning on the job and one day a week spent off-site, undertaking classroom-based and workshop-based training at B&FC.
What support will I get from B&FC?
As the employer
Each employer is supported by an experienced member of our Business Development Team to set up their apprenticeship. For those employers who are completely new to the apprenticeship process, the Team will support them with all the necessary paperwork and administration to get their apprenticeship programme up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. For existing employers, their dedicated Client Services Manager will be an ongoing point of contact for all their apprenticeship queries, however big or small.
We can also help employers who are looking to recruit new apprentices by advertising their vacancy, finding suitable applicants and supporting them with the interview and selection process. Once an apprentice is onboard, our Curriculum Tutors and Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches also step in to support the employer-apprentice relationship and ensure the apprentice is on track to succeed.
As the apprentice
In the first instance, we aim to give potential apprentices all the support they need to find a suitable apprenticeship. That can mean working with them prior to an application to improve their CV, hone their interview skills and advise them of any additional training that may help them secure an apprenticeship vacancy.
Once they start their apprenticeship, we continue to support them with their off-site training and with regular meetings with our Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches to ensure they are progressing and acquiring all the knowledge, skills and behaviours that will ensure they complete their apprenticeship successfully.
How will the Apprenticeship be assessed?
What is an end-point assessment and why it happens
An EPA is an assessment at the end of the apprenticeship. The EPA is the apprentice's opportunity to show an independent assessor how well they can carry out the occupation they have been trained for. Apprentices need to complete a logbook of their training during the last eight months of their apprenticeship which showcases all the work they have carried out prior to their EPA.
The overall grades available for this apprenticeship are:
- fail
- pass
- distinction
When the apprentice passes the EPA, they will be awarded their apprenticeship certificate.
Assessment methods
The EPA comprises three distinct components
Professional discussion
The apprentice will have an interview with an independent assessor. During this interview, the assessor will ask the apprentice at least six questions, which cover different aspects of their role with the aim of assessing whether the apprentice has satisfactorily acquired all the knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the occupational standard. The portfolio of evidence the apprentice has compiled will enable them to answer these questions effectively.
Online knowledge test
This will test the apprentice's understanding of key aspects of their role and the knowledge require to carry out their daily tasks efficiently and to the highest industry standards.
Presentation
The apprentice will be asked to deliver a 10-15 minute presentation to an external assessor on a project they have completed or a process they have improved. Following the presentation, there will be a 10-15 minute Q&A session to allow the assessor to the apprentice's skills in areas such as project management, planning and organisation, communication and decision-making.