Lucy Weaver

Said the following about Michael Bent:

“Michael Bent was appointed as Assistant Manager, Logistics in October 2013. Since this time he has been promoted twice and is now in the role of Logistics Development Manager with 10 direct reports. Michael has been studying towards his Senior Leaders Management Degree since January 2018 and he believes that his apprenticeship is giving him the necessary tools and learning to support the organisation's future objectives and growth strategies. He feels that his learning is giving him the knowledge necessary to be a future leader in the business and the apprenticeship is equipping him with the skills and expertise required at his desired level of operating. As a learning organisation Unipart Rail value organisational capability greatly, and this apprenticeship definitely supports this.

Michael is having a real impact at Unipart Rail as he has contributed a significant amount of his personal time to ensuring that his apprenticeship is supporting the work of Unipart Rail and also that his team feel the benefit of his learning. He consistently makes a conscious effort to cascade knowledge down to members of his team so as to upskill everyone through the learning he is gaining on his Senior Leaders Master’s Degree Apprenticeship. He believe that the 20% off the job learning requirement is a very valuable time commitment and he prides himself on going above and beyond this to make sure that he is getting the most possible from the experience for the benefit of Unipart Rail, his team, as well as himself.

Michaels’ future aspirations are to fulfil a senior role within the business and he cannot think of any better qualification to gain to support these ambitions than completing an MBA. Whilst he understands that qualifications alone cannot enable reaching senior roles, he is confident that the learning that he is getting from the MBA is preparing him in the best way a qualification can.

He is confident that should he fulfil his ambitions and gain a senior role in the business in the future then the skills that he has developed as part of his MBA apprenticeship will be a key driver in this. He is extremely grateful to the organisation to be completing the MBA apprenticeship and he is looking forward to bringing the learning into his working life for the benefit of the organisation in the future.

Michael has proved to be hard working, committed and keen to progress but not only for his personal development but also for the benefit of his team and also Unipart Rail. He is always willing to get involved in any way to promote the benefits of Apprenticeships within an organization, as he sees the value they can bring. Due to his role within the business along with the Apprenticeship that he is completing, he is proving to be an excellent role model for all our other current Apprentices and Graduate population and those we are looking to recruit in the near future.“