Age 16-18
Georgia completed a Merchandising Admin Assistant apprenticeship with Arcadia and was based at one of the company’s flagship stores, Topshop, in Oxford Street.
She passed the Level 4 Business Admin apprenticeship qualification, specialising in Merchandising, and was offered permanent employment with Arcadia, which owns fashion stores Topshop, Topman, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Wallis and Evans.
Georgia, formerly of Hall Mead School, studied at Havering Sixth Form College from 2015 to 2017 and took A Levels in Psychology, Sociology and Communication Studies.
Her day to day work is centred on global sales of Topshop jeans. She runs analysis on the stock, sale and intake of jeans at stores all over the world and then makes decisions on whether the store needs more or less stock and when to send it.
She heard about the Apprenticeship scheme when she visited the College’s CUBE (Careers centre) and says if it hadn’t been for the good advice from the CUBE staff she wouldn’t have even known it was an option for her.
The application process was tough but she managed to get through the assessments and interviews and hasn’t looked back.
She said: “I love where I work, I enjoy the environment – it’s a very social place to work but it’s also very professional. I have a really supportive boss and feel that I am learning all the time. Arcadia also treat their staff very well – there is even a hairdressers and beauty salon in our building that we can make use of when we want to for just a small charge.”
Georgia says there is a clear and fast progression route at the company and she plans to stay in Merchandising and have a senior position by the end of 2019 – with then further promotion to become a Director of Merchandising in the future.
