​2021 Apprenticeship series: Jaiden, Syngenta Apprentice

By Jaiden Hawkins, Syngenta Apprentice

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we catch up with Jaiden Hawkins on how he’s been getting on with his impressive science-based apprenticeship with Syngenta.

I chose to do an apprenticeship out of stability.
The student loan I could get didn’t even cover accommodation at the university I got accepted into. Lifestyle was also a factor for me: university life is great but I think some people need more support.

With my Syngenta apprenticeship, I get the best of both worlds as I can go and stay with friends who are at university at the weekends – well, not for now but in the future.

I also felt that getting a desired job after university can often be harder than initially expected, but a degree apprenticeship felt like a more stable option, given that it allows you to ‘get your foot in the door’ with such a big organisation and practically working and studying to become a competent employee – or a chemist in my case.

I still go into the office, but there is a much lower site occupancy than usual.
This is to allow for social distancing in the office and laboratories. The site has a team of cleaners frequently wiping down surfaces and working to reduce touch points. For now, everyone wears a face covering, has their own office space and lab occupancy is monitored.

In my case, I travel to site three days a week for essential lab work only and work from home the other two (one of which is my university study day). I’ve always studied ‘at distance’ from my university and I can maintain this by frequently asking experienced chemists that I work with any questions I have, on top of the university support.

I have somewhere between 3 and 3.5 years left of my apprenticeship.
I’m currently working in formulation development but will soon be moving over to analytical chemistry.

Over the last year, I have noticed the contributions that I have been making to projects – which I surprised myself with. A lot of practical learning has also taken place in this short period of time.

Different projects are obviously busier than others due to varying timelines, but work has felt busier on site. I believe that the pandemic has made us better at planning our lab days as we have to book the lab ahead of time, which means I am coming onto site knowing exactly what I need to do.

I’ve not yet decided what I want to specialise in yet. At the moment, I am happy gaining experience in different areas of the business and seeing where this takes me… Ask me next time!

Syngenta have been supportive with emphasising the importance of our physical and mental wellbeing.
With COVID-19 restrictions in place, we needed to consider only coming onto site when and where necessary. From this, I’ve managed to work with several different people on several different projects and gaining so much experience in doing so.

Syngenta have also been very supportive and have kept me informed with changes on site. They have been very good at emphasising the importance of our physical and mental wellbeing during this tough time too. While it has been tough at times, there is a great community spirit at my workplace.

Choose a career path that you enjoy, no matter which educational route you decide on.
Something good to be thinking of is how competitive would your CV be? For example, what sets you apart from the other people going for the same job? In my case, it would be the five years of industry experience that I will have against other people my age.

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We caught up with Jaiden last year too – read about what he had to say last year. Looking for a career in science? Take a look at our vacancies here >