A secretarial apprenticeship in oil and gas – transactions, training and teamwork

In 2019 I began working with the oil and gas team as a secretarial support apprentice at the Aberdeen office. Before joining Brodies I never imagined myself working in the legal sector - I was studying at college, doing a level 6 in applied sciences. I chose to go down the route of doing an apprenticeship as I liked the idea of studying while working. An apprenticeship is a great way to gain experience, learn on the job and it prepares you for a working environment. After researching opportunities, I applied to Brodies and within a few weeks I was away down to Edinburgh for training.

When I started, I loved being in an office and very quickly adapted to my working environment. I had great support from all of my colleagues and settled in quickly to the role. The company that I secured my apprenticeship through was GP Strategies and they were very efficient with the work they gave me. I had regular meetings with my mentor, and in these meetings, we set out realistic goals for each month. At each session I was given a set number of modules to complete and a date to have them completed by. My mentor was available via email at any time, and she was great at getting back to me. This helped a lot as I never felt as though I was struggling on my own.

One of the big projects I worked on involved formatting agreements for one of our biggest clients; myself and a colleague created a guide document on how to format these agreements to the high standard required. We also provided a training session for the team and created a protocol document and a base document for how each agreement should look. We've formatted hundreds of agreements and been involved in large scale projects with the client - the lawyers rely on us to ensure the document is 100% accurate and fully functioning with cross references, and terms of conditions.,

After completing my apprenticeship, I was offered a full-time position as a transactional support assistant, working with the oil and gas team at Brodies. Since then, I have gained a lot of experience and I really enjoy my job.

I would highly recommend going down the route of an apprenticeship to someone considering it. There are lots of great benefits including gaining experience and receiving a wage while studying at the same time. My experience over the past two years has been amazing, I've met many different people and gained experience not only within oil and gas but throughout various practice areas across the firm.