Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Who is Sam and what does he do? Sam is a manager at a company called Abacus Bean. Part of his job is looking after the younger members of his team to make sure they are doing okay. He also does a lot of accounting work, which involves organising money records (bookkeeping) and sorting out taxes (VAT returns) for businesses.

Is it all just maths? Not at all! You might think accountants need to be wizards at really hard sums, but Sam says that as long as you can add, subtract, and use a calculator, you can be an accountant.

Actually, the most important skill for Sam is communication (talking and listening). He spends a lot of time chatting with customers to understand their problems so he can fix them. He also talks to his team to help them if they are stuck on anything.

How did he get this job? When Sam was at school, he didn’t know what he wanted to be, but he knew he didn’t want to go to university. Instead, he did an apprenticeship. This is a special way of learning where you earn money while you learn the job. Sam thinks this was a great choice because he learned real skills without having to borrow lots of money to pay for university.

What is the best part? Sam really likes the feeling of finishing a tricky piece of work. However, his absolute favourite thing about the job is helping people.

Think of it like this: Doing an apprenticeship is a bit like learning to play football by joining a team and playing in real matches, rather than just reading a book about the rules. Sam learned by doing, and now he helps businesses keep score!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Tom, a young man who is training to become an accountant. Being a trainee means he is still learning the job, and it will take him about four or five years to become fully trained.

Tom spends his day working on important tasks like tax returns, looking after small accounts, and dealing with invoices (which are papers that ask for payment). Because he works with numbers and makes calculations all day, Tom says you need to have very good maths skills. It is also important to have good communication skills so he can talk clearly to his clients and the people he works with.

Tom chose this job because he was always good at maths at school, so it made sense for him. He really enjoys it because the people in his office are nice and friendly, which makes it a happy place to work.

Think of it like this: An accountant is like the scorekeeper for a business- but instead of counting goals in a football match, they count the money to make sure the score is always right!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Maria! She works as a Senior Accountant, which means she helps businesses look after their money.

Here is what Maria does in her job:

• She helps companies organise their money: Maria does things like bookkeeping (which is like keeping a diary of all the money a business spends and earns) and handles VAT returns (sorting out taxes for the government).

• She uses cool tools: If you looked over her shoulder, you would see her using computer programs like Excel and accounting software called zero.

• She talks to people: She doesn’t just sit alone; she works with different clients every day, sends lots of emails, and meets many people.

Why does she do it? Maria chose this job because she really enjoys numbers. She believes that you can solve everything with numbers. She loves her workplace because everyone is amazing and very social.

How did she become an accountant? Maria did not go to university. Instead, she did an apprenticeship straight after school. This is a special way in the UK to learn a job while you are actually doing it. She has been working there for over five years now.

Think of it like this: Imagine Maria is like the scorekeeper for a football match. Just like a scorekeeper writes down the goals to check who is winning, Maria writes down all the numbers for a business to check if they are “winning” with their money and playing by the rules.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Louise! She has a really cool job.

Louise Shaw works for a company called Abacus Bean as a Marketing and Business Development Manager.

What does she actually do? Louise says her job is all about making sure people know who her company is and persuading them to work with them. She says her work is very different every day, which is one of the best things about it.

Here are some of the fun things she gets to do:

• Being Creative: She designs graphics and makes animations for social media.

• Planning Events: She organises fun events and parties.

• Meeting People: She goes out for coffee or dinner to meet clients- this is called “networking”.

• Filming: sometimes she visits clients to make videos about them.

• Strategy: Before she does the creative bits, she has to do a lot of research and planning (like doing homework before you play) to make sure her ideas will work.

What skills do you need? Louise says it helps to be a “people person”. In fact, her nickname at work is “Social Bean” because she is constantly being social and chatting with everyone. You also need to be creative.

Did she always want to do this? Not really! Louise took a long path to get here. She went to university to study Law, but she quickly realised she didn’t want to be a lawyer. She spent some time working in sales and realised she loved working with people and being creative, which led her to this job.

Why she loves her job:

• The Team: She works with a small group of people who are very close.

• Her Boss: Her boss is flexible and trusts her to do her work without checking on her all the time, which makes her feel like she is doing her best work.

• It’s Fun: She says the team makes it really good fun to come to work every single day.

Think of it like this: Imagine you are organising the best school disco ever. You have to design cool posters so everyone knows about it (that’s the marketing and graphics), you have to go around the playground inviting your friends (that’s the networking), and you have to plan what music will play so everyone has a good time (that’s the strategy). Louise does this kind of planning and creating for her company every day!

Spark Tees Valley

In summary:

Meet Matthew! He has a very important job at a place called J&B Recycling.

Matthew is a Health and Safety Officer. You can think of him as a safety hero who makes sure nobody gets hurt while they are working at the recycling centre.

Here is what Matthew does every day:

• He writes the rules: Matthew writes down special instructions called “risk assessments”. These are like guidebooks that tell the workers exactly how to do their jobs properly and safely.

• He keeps people safe: His main goal is to make sure everyone follows the rules so they can stay happy and healthy at work.

• He works with friends: Matthew says that the people he works with are really friendly, and they often have a good laugh together while they get their work done!

Matthew started learning about safety in his old job about a year ago. He liked it so much that he decided he wanted to do it every single day. Now, he loves coming to work to look after his team.

Spark Tees Valley

In summary:

Meet Mark! He has a very important and busy job helping to look after waste and recycling.

Mark is a Commercial Manager. Here is what he does every day:

• Finding New Jobs: He looks for new work for his company and works closely with local councils (the people who help collect your bins!).

• Selling Materials: He sells the materials they collect to lots of different organisations and even to other countries.

• Following the Rules: Mark has to make sure his company is kind to the planet. He works with the Environment Agency to make sure they are following all the rules to keep the environment safe.

Mark has worked in the waste industry for a very long time- over 25 years! Before he started this job, he worked in pest control, which means he helped deal with things like bugs or mice.

He didn’t always know he wanted to work with waste and recycling, but he has stayed for 13 years because he loves it. He says the best part of his job is that every day is different, and it is never boring!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Anna! Anna has a very important job as an employment solicitor.

What does she do? Imagine you own a big toy shop or a bakery. Anna’s job is to help the people who run those businesses. She helps them manage the people who work for them (called employees) and gives them advice on how to run their business well. She also helps with something called data protection, which is a way of keeping your private and secret information safe so that nobody else can see it.

How did she get there? After Anna finished school, she went to college and studied Law because she really, really liked it. Her parents gave her some great advice: they told her to do what she enjoyed because it is very hard to know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life when you are only 18 years old. After college, she went to university to study more. She says that there are many different ways to get a job like hers, including going to university or doing an apprenticeship (where you learn while you work).

The best part of her job: Anna loves that every single day is different. When she goes into her office, she never knows exactly what she will be doing that day. She works with many different types of companies in a place called the Tees Valley. Because every business is run in its own special way, the advice she gives them has to be special, too. This variety is what makes her job so much fun!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Gary, an electrical engineer! His job is very important because he designs anything that has a wire attached to it.

Here is what Gary does to help build the places where we live and work:

• He designs lights and power: Gary plans where the lights go and how the electricity gets to them.

• He keeps us safe: He designs fire alarms and emergency lighting to make sure everyone stays safe in a building.

• He uses cool technology: Gary uses special computer programs (called CAD) to make 3D models. These models show him exactly how the lighting will look and make sure the cables are the right size before the work even starts.

Gary didn’t start as an expert; when he left school, he went to a place called TTE to be an apprentice. This means he got to learn his trade while working. During his training, he did a six-week course on computer design and liked it so much that he decided to make it his career! He says it is very satisfying to see a finished project once all the lights are finally turned on.

Think of a building like a giant robot. Gary is the person who draws the map for the robot’s “nerves” (the wires). He makes sure the “eyes” (the lights) are bright enough and that the “brain” (the fire alarm) is ready to wake up if there is trouble!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Alison, who works in a place called Middlesbrough. Her job title is electrical estimator, but she started her career as an electrician.

When Alison first left school, she worked on building sites installing electrical systems (like wires and lights) into all sorts of buildings. Now, she spends most of her time in an office, where she designs these electrical systems herself. She also works out the price for everything so that customers know exactly how much the work will cost.

To learn how to do this, Alison did an apprenticeship. This meant she spent six weeks at a time working on a building site, followed by two weeks at college to learn the science behind how electricity works.

Even though she works in an office now, her favourite part of the job is still visiting the sites where the work is happening. She says it is great fun, even if it gets a bit cold in the winter!

Think of Alison’s job like being a master LEGO builder: first, she was the person putting the bricks together on the floor, but now she is the one who draws the instructions and counts exactly how many bricks are needed before the building starts.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Jasmine! She works for a company called Durata, and her job is very important: she is in charge of buying everything the company needs to do its work. This can be small things, like a pack of paper for the office, or huge things like scaffolding (the metal poles used to help builders reach high places on a building site).

Jasmine has been doing this job for five years. To learn how to do it, she did an apprenticeship in college for Business Administration. An apprenticeship is a great way to learn because you get to work and study at the same time. Jasmine loved her apprenticeship and says that if you ever think about doing one when you are older, you should definitely go for it.

When Jasmine was in school, she didn’t always know she would have this job. She actually wanted to be a police officer or a primary school teacher! She even studied childcare in college, but then she decided to try a different path. She says she has no regrets about changing her mind and that it is okay to choose a different career as you grow up.

Her biggest piece of advice is to do whatever makes you happy.

Analogy: Think of Jasmine like the person in charge of a giant shopping list for a school. One day she might need to buy a single pencil, and the next day she might need to buy a whole playground!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Danny! He works as a contracts engineer, which means he helps organise how things are built and sold.

Here is what his day looks like:

• Morning Routine: The first thing Danny does is make himself a cup of coffee. Then, he gets on the telephone to chat with customers to see how they are doing and what new jobs they have planned for the future.

• Checking the Factory: Danny doesn’t just sit in a chair all day. He walks down to the shop floor- that’s the factory area where things are made- to check on his projects and see how they are getting on.

• Planning and Drawings: He spends time looking at drawings of the parts they need to make and works with his team to figure out when the work needs to be done and how long it will take. He also works out the prices for new jobs, which is called “quoting”.

How did Danny get this job?

Danny has always loved engineering because he likes being “hands-on” and making things. When he was at secondary school, he loved using a machine called a lathe.

Because he enjoyed it so much, he went to college to learn more about engineering. After his first year, he started a 4-year apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is brilliant because you get to work and learn at the same time! While he was doing this, he studied for special qualifications called an HNC and HND.

At first, he worked “on the tools” (using the machines himself) for a few months, operating a big machine called a vertical borer. Later, he moved into sales and finally became a contracts engineer.

What is the best part?

Danny loves that he gets to be out and about. His favourite thing is learning exactly what a component (a part of a machine) is used for. He thinks it is brilliant to visit customers at their own sites to see the different types of engineering in action.