This week we're joined by Blaise, who was certain they weren't going to university and took a gap year instead. They explain how by doing so they were able to land an apprenticeship in their chosen industry, travel abroad and get new skills
Participants
- Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Prospects
- Blaise Lamport - legal apprentice, Jisc
Transcript
Blaise Lamport: But it came up so much in my interview that I thought, if I hadn't done it, what would I be talking about? because what else would I have done? I feel like it's that type of experience that sets you apart, right?
Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You, the podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts, Prospects.
Blaise Lamport: My name is Blaise Lamport. I'm a legal apprentice at Jisc in my 4th year.
Emily Slade: And before you undertook that, you took a gap year.
Blaise Lamport: Yes, I did.
Emily Slade: So was it always the plan to take a gap year?
Blaise Lamport: Yeah, I never wanted to go to university. I knew since I was 14. I told my parents when I was 14, I said I didn't want to go to university. And they were quite shocked because I was quite young age to be thinking about that sort of stuff. But I just knew my friend was applied to university at the time and it just didn't look appealing. So my parents were like always knew they were always very supportive. But I never had the inkling that it was something that I wanted to go ahead with.
Emily Slade: So What I suppose when you hit that sort of college A-Level era, was your plan to, did you have any clue? Did you know about degree apprenticeships? Did you think you were just going to go into the world of work or were you always going to be like, I'm going to take a year out?
Blaise Lamport: I always knew I was going to do a gap year because I don't think I had a solid plan of what was meant to come next. And we had in school had some talks of apprenticeships and what you could do, but it was more for construction, bricklaying, very manual based jobs. There was no sort of like 9 to 5 corporate apprenticeships that were ever discussed to me. So I thought, okay, I don't know what I'm going to do, I'm not going to go to uni. And I kind of thought uni, like it's a last resort, like I don't need to go in at 18, you can go in whenever you fancy. So I knew I was going to take the gap year and I knew that I was going to have to go get a job. So wanted the money to go out and do things and I wanted to go and travel. So I always knew that. I didn't know what I was going to do and then it kind of all just fell into place as I started doing it like 1 by 1.
Emily Slade: So talk me through that process.
Blaise Lamport: So I went in 6th form. I said I don't want to do uni and they were very critical of that decision. They did they it was like a very well where I'm from it was a very high school and they I think schools sometimes get better look like it looks better if they get so many people to go to uni and they were very much like, no, uni is the only way for you to ever progress. If you want to go into a professional career field, you need to go to uni. And I said, it's just not, it's not something I want to do. And they were like, but you could still apply, you could still apply for uni, you could still go. And even if you get all these offers you don't want to go, you still apply. It costs money to apply. And I thought, why am I paying all this money? Well, not all this money, I don't know how much is, or money to apply to university, which, and I knew in my heart I wasn't going to accept it. So I said, no. And then they kind of were like, well, you're never going to do anything. And I was like, okay, lovely. It's university or you don't exist anymore. Oh, yeah, exactly. And they were like, you get good grades. I was like, yeah, but I can still go. Like, if I have like a change of mind, I can go an extra, it's fine. So I didn't go. And then I got my A-levels and I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do. And then I was on Indeed quite a lot. And I was like, I just need to find some other flexible hours, but decent enough pay that I can go. So I applied for this job, like a full-time position, but with flexible shifts. And it was like, you could take off holder whenever you wanted, there was no notice period. So I thought, okay, I'll just, I'll go do that. And then five days on I thought, this is horrendous. And it was like the start of my professional career. And I thought, is this what a 9 to 5 is going to be like? This is really hard.
Emily Slade: Were you suddenly regretting like, oh God, I should have gone to uni?
Blaise Lamport: Well, no, I didn't think that I should have gone to uni. I kind of just thought, oh my God, my friends are living up partying on the weekends and I am here in this big office building. And it was only like 5 days. It was like 2 weeks of training I had to do because it was like for a tech thing. And then I realized I'm not a tech person. And I thought maybe I shouldn't be in tech. So now I quit very unexpectedly. And I thought, oh, God, I do something. I've got to do something. And this video came up of this girl and she was like, I'm a living nanny of these really rich people in America. And I thought, isn't that a nice job? That's cool. So now I looked and there's a lot of opportunities where you can go and be a living nanny for people. It's called being an au pair. And I loved German in school and I did it as an A-Level. And I thought, oh, I could live in Germany. I would quite like that. So then I applied and I reached out and then you put all your details on the website and families reach out to you if they like what they see and you reach out to them. And that's kind of how it all started. And then I went through that and then I moved to Germany.
Emily Slade: Wow. So that almost came out of nowhere.
Blaise Lamport: Yeah, it was very unexpected. I just knew that I couldn't do the office. Like the reason I took the gap year was because I wanted some sort of freedom before like, because I knew I was going to go into law at some point. I always knew like this was the career path I want to go down. But it's a very long training process. And it's also you hear all these stories about people working like 16 hour days. And I thought, before I tie myself down to a career, I just want to have a year of somewhat freedom while still making money. So I thought it's probably the best option is to go abroad and travel, experience a different culture, learn another language and just do it that way and then come back and then be like, okay, now I need to think realistically of the career.
Emily Slade: Yeah, a few things. You are so brave. For a number of reasons. I'm in awe of you. Like just generally congrats for being like, I don't want to go to uni and then like sticking to your guns because that conversation went very differently for me. I was like, I don't want to go to uni and they went, you should. So I went, okay. So really well done for like not being pressured into it. And then taking the leap to move abroad without any seeming fear of that.
Blaise Lamport: Yeah. It wasn't my fear that I realised to worry about. It was my parents that were the real... Well, I didn't tell them that I had done any of this until I got the offer through and I had accepted the offer to move abroad. And then I said to my mum, you know, in a month I'm going to move to Germany. And we were at dinner. And she was like, she said, no, you're not. And I said, I've just signed this thing. Like, I am actually going. Because I knew that if I told her before I did it, she would say no. So it was kind of like that ask for forgiveness, not permission.
Emily Slade: I'm obsessed with you.
Blaise Lamport: And then she was kind of like, okay, well, I want to meet the family. So we had like a video call and a Skype and whatever. And then she's like, oh, I suppose I can't stop you. And I was like, look, I'm a sensible woman. Like, if I go and it's unsafe, I'll just come back. You know, like, It's fine, but also when the website I went through, you have to register and you have to do DBS checks. Like there's lots of stuff. So I said it's not like they haven't had, like they have no criminal record. It's not like they're just like a random.
Emily Slade: Yeah, you're not just wandering into the German wilderness.
Blaise Lamport: Yeah. So then I thought that was fine. So then I thought, you know, last resort, I'll just get a plane home.
Emily Slade: Yeah.
Blaise Lamport: So I don't think it was a difficult choice for me. My parents, it was a very difficult choice.
Emily Slade: Yeah, definitely. And just in terms of the logistics of this decision, like it's brilliant and it's exciting. It doesn't feel like something that's potentially available to like everyone. Like was there a cost behind, you know, picking up and moving to Germany, even though it was for employment? Did you have to get like visas in place? Did you have to book flights, like things that might not be attainable for people that perhaps don't have that sort of money?
Blaise Lamport: The biggest cost was the visa. And the issue was the visa was there's two German embassies in the UK or two that you can go to if you live in England or Wales. It depends on where you live to depend on which embassy you have to go to. So I didn't know this at the time because it's very unclear. So I went to London, which has a German embassy, and then they said to me, why not the embassy for you? And I thought, I literally booked an appointment, like, and I've paid to come down. So I paid to go down London. And then I thought, okay, well, it was me and my mum. I said, let's make a day of it. So then we had a day in London. And then I said, okay. We'll go to the right one this time, which is in Edinburgh, which is a lot closer to where I live in Newcastle. Well, I live in Newcastle, so family, Edinburgh's so much closer. I thought, okay, we'll go to Edinburgh, we'll have the appointment, we'll make a deal of it. We went up, we had the appointment, and then it doesn't cost for the appointment. What does cost, however, is then you have to go to a speaking exam, because you can't be an au pair if you don't have some level, base level of language understanding. So you have to be able to prove that you have, like, I don't know exactly what I think, it's called A2, it's the language level certificate and you have. So you have to go to this building and then they give you a speaking exam where they just ask you, like, what's your name, whatever, like in German. But that was fine, so I just saw my little circle, yeah, you know, this is easy. So I did that. And then they were like, okay, your visa will come in however long. It costs train tickets. The appointment is free. But then to do the exam, you have to pay like 40 pounds, I think it was at the time. And then I spoke to my family and I said, and they'd had like loads of au pairs before. They had one like every year. So I was saying, I'm going to come over and they were like, well, we'll book your plane tickets, we'll book this, we'll do this for you. And then I go, we'll pick you up at the airport and we'll put you on our car insurance. So for me, it didn't cost any money to do it like that. The only thing that cost money was the visa because they had so many other pairs before we were like, we understand. Like you're coming to work for us, so we'll pay for you to come to us.
Emily Slade: That's very cool.
Blaise Lamport: So then that was fine. Yeah. But then that's about finding the right family and stuff like that. It probably differs for a lot of people.
Emily Slade: So how long were you intending to be out in Germany for?
Blaise Lamport: A year.
Emily Slade: And were you?
Blaise Lamport: No. Oh. No, it got a bit prickly, not for a multitude of reasons. I was there for until April, so September to April. Basically, it was a lot of different things. I had one family lined up and then I moved families to another one, not because we didn't, I didn't like the first family, we got along grit, but they only needed like 12 weeks. Right. And then they were like, we only need 12 weeks and then we are thinking of moving to Spain or something. And I was like, okay, fine. So I did 12 weeks and then I was like, okay, I'll move. And my friend was like, oh, we know this really great family. So I was in Germany already. So I thought, okay, I'll meet them in person. I met them and they were lovely. They had one boy, whereas the other family had three boys. So I was like a lot less work. One boy, 7 years old. And it was, she was Chinese and he was German, so it was like a multicultural family, lovely. I was like, okay, maybe I can learn some Chinese. And we had a few sit-down dinners and it was so, nice, so lovely. And then I moved in with them and then slowly the facade just rusted. Oh no. And it turned out that they had lies and they were actually on the brink of a divorce, a very messy divorce. and they couldn't have a conversation with each other without screaming at each other. So a lot of the times you'd be sitting having dinner and one of them would come home from work and all of a sudden everyone's screaming and everyone's shouting and I thought, I just, I can't do this. I can't stay here. Like everyone's screaming all the time. Like you cannot have like an hour of peace with them both in the house. So then she moved out halfway through my stay with them. and rented an apartment. Then I was like almost like a decorator. Essentially, she was like, we'll paint the walls together, we'll do this. And I was like, oh my God. And it was literally like being a child of divorce, like MP. And I was like, okay, so now I was like, I was with the kid and they were like, you can go see your dad five days a week. So I was with the dad five days a week and then the mum on weekends. I was like, this is.
Emily Slade: No, what you signed up for.
Blaise Lamport: No, you know, which I mean, I felt really bad for the kid, but also I was like, I can't, this isn't what I wanted.
Emily Slade: Wow. So what skills and qualities did you get from that experience? I'm semi-joking, but resilience, I guess.
Blaise Lamport: I suppose, so to be honest, it was hard. So I was 18 and I didn't, I sort of didn't want to call my dad and be like, maybe I shouldn't.
Emily Slade: Yeah, I was going to say, were your parents a little bit like, yes.
Blaise Lamport: And they weren't nearly as smug about it, but they were a little bit smug.
Emily Slade: You could like sense the smugness of like, no, we just care about your safety.
Blaise Lamport: Exactly. At that point I had been there six months and I had fun and my parents knew the situation. Like I was keeping them updated. So I wasn't like admitting anything. But I got to a point where I said to my dad called me and he was like, you need to leave. And I said, dad, I can't just leave. Like I've made a commitment to be here for it was until September that year. And also the other problem was they had booked a family holiday with me on it. And I thought I've made a commitment to be here and there's a holiday in July and I wanted to go. Like it was a nice holiday. They were a wealthy family. I thought I'm never going to have this opportunity ever again. My dad was like, you need to get on this plane or I'm coming to Germany and I will get you myself. And I was like, okay. So now I had to sit down and be like, I sat down with the dad who was a lot nicer. And I said, I explained everything, and he was like, Yeah, I totally get it, and I think the lesson learned was, sometimes even though you make commitment, you have to understand what your limits are. And my limits were, I can't be here while you're like screaming at each other all the time. And then he started, and then he started like bringing people home and I was like, this isn't, we've really hit the limit now. So now for even though I've made a commitment to you and your family, I'm going to have to put myself first here and say, respectfully, you need to find someone else. And then that was hard because I thought, I don't think I have a problem signing up for myself, but also I think the big problem was like I had agreed to do something and I don't mind going back on my word. And I thought if there's any way I could have stayed, like I would have stayed, but my dad really hit it home and he was like, you can't pop this for another like 6 months. And I thought, yeah, that is true. I can't.
Emily Slade: Yeah. So what have you've done? April through to September. So you'd been in Germany for six months?
Blaise Lamport: September through to April. And then I was meant to stay April to September. And then I left like the middle of April and said, I'm sorry, like I have to go.
Emily Slade: What happened then? Like, did you, were you immediately able to be like, right, September's coming up. Do I need to start applying for anything?
Blaise Lamport: Well, it was a very big coincidence, I think. Every, like, when I said everything, fell into place, this is what I mean. So I was in Germany and I'd had this chat where I'd said, and this was 3 weeks before I left. I said, look, but if I can continued and I he didn't really know what was happening with the mum because obviously they weren't together and I was telling him all these things what happened and he was yes I really understand like I can appreciate your situation whatever. So then after that I had a laptop with me and I just searched like legal apprenticeships or something like that or apprenticeships and I was like I just need something even if it's a two year thing and something I'm interested in just to get me on the ladder of you know I've got the experience built I start rebuilding my CV pretty much and really it came across the Prospects website and I thought, okay, let me have a look. And there was two apprenticeships asked because it was the end of the apprenticeship window and one of them was for Jisc, which is where I work now. And I thought, I've never heard of them, have no idea what they do, but it can't hurt to just put in my CV to all these different places. So I put my CV in, didn't hear anything back, moved back home and then all of a sudden a phone call and it was this guy and he's like, I'm calling on behalf of Jisc if you want to, we've got like a group interview next Thursday. I was like, oh, brilliant, lovely. And then so literally I came back and two days later I was out with lunch with my mum and then he said, then this guy phoned me when I was at lunch saying we can have an interview for you next week and I was like, yeah, lovely. So then I had the interview the following week and then the week after that I got a phone call back saying you have the job if you want it and I thought, yeah, okay, I'll take the job. So then he was like, he's still in September and I was like, okay, lovely. And that was like end of April time. So I thought, okay, now I just need like a job to get me through to September. So I started working like a zero hour contract at a pub and I was like, brilliant, this is everything I need. So then it literally all, like it was a very big coincidence that just all happened. Wow. Hannah, because when I came back, my mum was giving me the, what are you going to do? You never should have gone, you should build your CV. And I was like, I know.
Emily Slade: Do you think you should have gone? Do you agree with her? Or are you like, I would not be who I am today?
Blaise Lamport: It's a really fun story. Like, a lot of stuff happened, there was a lot of little stories, and then my friends had the best FaceTimes of their lives when I was like FaceTiming them, like, can you hear what's going on in the background? I think it was great, like, I've made, like, when I work here, like, people are like, Oh, what did you do? And it's so, like, it's just like a good opportunity to be like, Yeah, isn't this crazy? You tell them all stuff, and also it came up a lot in my interview when I applied for Jisc, I brought up in a lot of more professional way during my interview, but my boss now, she was so lovely. She was like, my God, this is brilliant. Like, you're so adventurous, you're so brilliant. And I was like, yeah, all those things. But it came up so much in my interview that I thought, if I hadn't done it, what would I be talking about? Like, because what else would I have done? Like, I feel like it's that type of experience that sets you apart, right? So even though it was a bit of a wild ride, if I had, I feel like if I had gone down the typical route, I kind of probably would have been just another face across. But I think it's those like really weird things that like sometimes that's what people are looking for.
Emily Slade: Something that makes you stand out.
Blaise Lamport: Yeah, exactly. And then recently my manager brought up to me and he's like, do you remember you said this in your interview? And I was like, yeah, I do remember that. And he was like, it was so weird. But even now I remember. I was like, exactly. It's just a memorable story. So I don't regret going. I really enjoyed it for the most part. I think it was a great time.
Emily Slade: Yeah, amazing. And did you improve upon your language skills? Did you experience another culture or were you just too busy wrapped up in this family drama?
Blaise Lamport: I did. I did a language course out there, which was really good. And the family also paid for that, which was very nice of them. I did that with the first family actually. So I would go, I think my class was like 8am till 11am every morning. So when the kids were at school, so they, the agreement was they did the morning routine and I would do language class and then I would come back and then one of the kids was 4. So he was in nursery until 1pm. So I would go pick him up from nursery, bring him back and then spend the evening with the kids until about 6pm or 7pm. And then you get the weekends off. So I was going to this language class to improve my skill. And then I think that's when you realise how little you actually know. So I was like, what the hell? And it was no one else spoke English. So it was literally you could only speak in German. And I was like, wow, okay, intense. And then I made a few friends. The first time they went out, they've had friends that had a pairs as well. So we would all go out together and they were like Italian or Russian and stuff like that. So you just sit together, you think, oh, this is nice. And we went ice skating and stuff like that. So it was a lovely experience and the family wasn't like the whole focus at the time of that, which was also very good.
Emily Slade: Yeah, fantastic. Oh my God, this is amazing. So I guess for somebody listening who is freaking out, either they haven't got their expected A-Levels or they truly just don't know what to do, or they're also thinking they don't want to go down the formal educational route of university, what advice do you have for them?
Blaise Lamport: So someone who doesn't know what they're doing, I think a big part of life is learning to adapt. and handle what life does. It's a big part of life. Like even now, sometimes stuff comes in to work and you're like, what the hell is this? What am I doing? But it's a big part of life as learning to adapt. So I think it's all about your mindset and how you're viewing things. I think it's so easy to get wrapped up in the negative, like my God, everything's ruined, I can't do anything, I have no options. But there actually are so many opportunities, especially now, apprenticeships are such a big thing that everywhere, there's so many big companies now that are putting out apprenticeship schemes. So I think you need to sort of take a step back and have a look at your bigger picture and think, if you don't know what you want to do, is there anything you like? Is there anything that you like and you think, okay, maybe I could do this as a career or as a skill you think you're really good at? And you think, can I go look at opportunities whether I have those skills? there's so many opportunities that you can just look at, but if you're so focused on one thing, it's really easy to miss everything else that could actually really benefit you. So yes, I think when I was doing it, when I was like looking, my whole approach was just kind of have to see what comes at you. Like you can't just go around like I want to do this and only this, because then you really get stuck in this like downward spiral of my God, I'm so lost. You just have to look at everything around you and think, okay, what's for me?
Emily Slade: And I suppose a gap year isn't a death sentence. It doesn't delay your skills. It doesn't delay your ability to join the working world. Like if anything, it helps you.
Blaise Lamport: I think it is a very big help. I think there's so many things that you can do in a gap year. And eventually, like, say you do a gap year, you want to go to uni, you do that. Even when you come out the other side of uni, You can always look back and go, I have these skills from my gap year or I did this in my gap year and that's what sets me apart. So I feel like, and it's no disrespect to anyone going down the university route, I feel like sometimes you can't just become a face in the crowd of people going down the university route and just going through the process. I think a lot of times what employers want is someone who is standing out and being proactive and doing things that other people aren't doing. So you want the experience of actually I'm going to go away, I'm going to do something that I like and it's still It's going to look good and I'm going to be able to reflect on that time and improve. And that's what employers want. Employers want people who are able to do that. Nothing you can't do that at university, but I think it is easier to take the gap year and solely focus on doing stuff that makes you happy.
Emily Slade: And yeah. definitely. Yeah. Just in case there's like a fear of like, oh God, if I take a gap year, it's going to put me behind.
Blaise Lamport: No, I think my gap year really benefited me, as I've said, really benefited my career. I don't think I would have got this job if I hadn't taken a gap year. So I just don't think, I think when I was fresh. I don't think I had the skills or the communication ability like in my interview when I was talking. I don't think I could have talked like that fresh out of A-levels because you're not taught how to talk like that. You're not taught really how to think in a career-minded way. You're taught how to study and how to revise. But taking the gap year, you kind of can look back and see, oh, actually, this is how much I've grown. Let me apply to that when I'm looking at my jobs.
Emily Slade: I suppose my last question would be, was there ever a moment during your gap year where you would compare your journey to your friends and have any sort of regrets or panic that they were in a different place to you?
Blaise Lamport: Not a direct comparison I don't think. Because I think even then I had some level of understanding that what we were doing was two very different things. And I think the fact that I didn't want to go to university and then did a gap year kind of help. I think if I had wanted to go to university and then saw my friends going to university while I was in a gap year, I kind of would have been a bit like, that's what I wanted to do. But because I didn't want to do that and it kind of had no appeal to me, I always kind of thought, it's suiting you, it's not suiting me. And even looking at their lifestyles, I was it was like fresh out of covid when my friends went to university and there was so many issues with universities at the time of face-to-face learning and all these other restrictions on being from first. And I kind of thought it probably suits me better actually to be from home. So I think not in my gap year, I think the only comparison I really would make or have made since my friends have come to university is actually when they graduated university, which was when I was in our apprenticeship and I kind of thought Am I falling behind? Because you guys, my partnership is 7 years, so it's a five-year degree, two-year training. And I thought, oh my God, everyone's now got their degrees. I don't have a degree yet. And then someone brought up to him, they're like, you don't even have a degree. And I was like, yeah, I know. And everyone I know was like publishing on their Instagram, I got a First or whatever. And I was like, oh, shoot, I should. I should have just gone to university and just have the degree. And then I thought, but I think it was a very like, my God, like panicking moment. And then when I looked at it rationally a few days later, I thought, no, I shouldn't have done a university. I mean, I think. And then I suppose the benefit of then doing the legal apprenticeship is to qualify and become a solicitor probably takes about the same time anyway as the apprenticeship. So you do a three-year degree, and then a qualifying exam that takes 2 years and then you do a training contract that takes 2 years. So really in total they're both the same one. So when I looked back I thought actually I'm probably doing it the better way because at least I'm getting paid you know to be here to do this and then I've got the money and the experience and I've got the job security of like I'm here I'm in a position whereas I think a lot of people especially I talk to my friends now which is what, a year and a bit after they've graduated. And they're like, I can't find anything because the job market isn't brilliant, really. Yeah. So when they were doing that, I was like, actually, in retrospect, I have made a very good decision to do the apprenticeship route because it suited my lifestyle better, but also now I kind of have some stability about at least until the end of my apprenticeship. So I thought, but in emotional moments, I think it is very easy to make the comparison, especially when you're like, you're feeling low, maybe something's not gone right, and you're like looking at everyone's Instagram, you're like, everyone's been so much better than I have. And then in reality, that's just social media. That's just people posting the best bits of their life, but like how many bad moments that they also had where they're looking at your social media going, wow, I should have done that. So then I thought it's probably easier just to not not compare them. But it is hard. I think it's really easy for the trap. There's loads of times when I've looked at people and I'm like, yeah, okay, I understand now. But then I come back and I work and I'm like, I love my job. I love being here. I love doing everything. So I think, okay.
Emily Slade: That's great. Thank you so much for your time today.
Blaise Lamport: Yeah, it's no problem.
Notes on transcript
This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.
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