Doug Whitear

Doug Whitear (21) began his NVQ 2 in Fitness Instruction in 2003 when he worked as a Gym Instructor at Tolworth Recreation Centre. He believes that the successful completion of his apprenticeship was an important factor in his manager's decision to promote him to his current role of Duty Manager.

He says: “I left school with a good set of GCSEs and A levels, but whilst I had a pretty good academic background, I had no vocational experience or any qualifications that I was able to directly apply to my work at the Recreation Centre. The apprenticeship changed this and I really enjoyed working my way through it to achieve a nationally recognised qualification. The fact that the apprenticeship was so flexible in terms of the time I was able to dedicate to it each week was a real help, and my Lifetime assessor was great at working out a programme which fitted around my work commitments.”

Doug continues: “When I left school I originally wanted to be a personal trainer, but having completed the NVQ, I was offered a management role and jumped at the chance to take it. I now have the best of both worlds - the majority of my job is based around the gym and I have the opportunity for a lot of customer interaction, but I also get to enjoy the challenge and diversity of a job in operations.”

Three years after beginning his apprenticeship, Doug has now started to train as a policeman. He says: “I think that achieving my NVQ completion has helped to give me the confidence to pursue this change of career and I think that a lot of the skills and knowledge that I've gained to date are transferable and will stand me in good stead in the future.”