In our latest Faces of FuturU article, Nia Evans, End-Point Assessment Coordinator, explains what her day-to-day role looks like, how she got into this field of work and what motivates her to do a great job everyday.
Nia also shares her top tips for those considering an apprenticeship or preparing for their End-Point Assessment.
Could you start by telling us about your role at FuturU?
I joined the EPA team as our End-Point Assessment Coordinator back in September 2021. Day-to-day, I coordinate assessments and support learners as they prepare for the big day. It’s my job to ensure everything runs smoothly, and also to liaise with training providers as their first point of contact, answering any questions, acting on any feedback they may have and putting them in touch with the right person where needed.
How did you get into this field of work?
After completing my degree in Surface Pattern Design I stumbled across a role as an Apprenticeship Coordinator for a local college in Southampton, supporting learners through their apprenticeship. It’s thanks to this role that I have a really good understanding of the whole apprenticeship journey, not just End-Point Assessment. So I understand what our learners have done to get to the point of their EPA, and now I can see them go right the way through to achieving their certification, which is really nice.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I have standard tasks that fall into most days – like checking assessment bookings have been scheduled correctly into EPA Pro, uploading tests for learners and answering emails from learners and training providers. Ultimately, I’m here to support our learners and training providers, so my days are often taken up ensuring everything is up to date and running smoothly for them.
Before I start work, I take our rescue dog Ned out for a walk and run errands on my lunch break.
What motivates you at work?
The feedback we get from our clients. It’s really motivating to hear that learners have had a good experience with us. Completing an assessment can be stressful, so it’s really lovely to know that I’ve helped to make things that little bit easier for them.
I really enjoy being able to help our learners, putting them at ease and providing them with the information they need – I always like to let them know that if they have any questions or concerns they can come to me, and if I don’t have an answer I’ll find someone that does.
Knowing someone’s enjoyed their experience with us makes it really worthwhile.
What brings you joy at work?
Aside from helping to make the End-Point Assessment process as easy as possible for learners, I also just love working with our team – everyone’s so supportive. I know I can reach out to anyone in the team and they’ll support me and my role, and I hope they’d say the same about me! We’re always there for each other.
One of our values is Always Learning - can you tell us about something you’ve learnt in your time here so far?
That it’s OK to make mistakes, and that my manager Helen will always be on hand to support me if I need her.
Since joining FuturU, I’ve also learnt a lot about all the tech we’ve brought in to improve our processes and the experience for our learners and training providers. We’ve had great support from the wider company too, who’ve helped me to develop my technical knowledge and worked so collaboratively with us.
I’ve learnt that things don’t need to be so manual. We used to contact each learner to book their assessments by text, but now we have a system that automatically emails learners inviting them to book themselves in. It’s a better experience for learners and has massively improved my ways of working too.
What excites you most about the future of FuturU?
Our vision, 100%. It’s really exciting that we can support healthcare professionals to progress in their careers and achieve their career goals, without the financial burden.
We can really make a difference to people’s lives – that’s really special.
What’s your advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship or coming up to their End-Point Assessment?
Apprenticeships are a great option – you get a qualification and you get hands-on experience and support from your employer too.
And for those coming up to their End-Point Assessment, I’d definitely recommend making the most of the support your training provider gives you like mock tests – even if you feel prepared it never hurts to practise. When you do your EPA with FuturU, you’ll get learning materials from us as well, which I’d encourage you to look through. And if you have any questions, remember your training provider as well as the team here at FuturU are always happy to help. Don’t be afraid to ask!
Read more: How to calm nerves before your End-Point Assessment →
