We sat down with Christie’s latest and greatest young apprentices to get a taste of what working at Christie’s as a young person is like, what sets them apart from other working environments and some advice for future Christie’s apprentices. Chloe, Molly, Zach, Matthew and Alice.

What do you do?

Chloe: I’m the recruitment apprentice. I started in September and I will finish this year in December, so it’s a 15 month program. It’s really cool being in the London office and working in recruitment and HR.

Alice: I work in Post-War and Contemporary Art department but I’m currently learning how to be a sales coordinator. They mainly do all the admin and make sure all of the artwork makes it to our office before the sale. I work mostly with the online sales team and also the data team. 

Molly: I’m a service apprentice and work for service operations which is a new branch Christie’s have just opened. The new branch helps ensure there is better communication of processes between two departments; client services and post sales. Client services are the front-facing roles and post sales are global shipping services, making sure their items sold are delivered safely. We aim to streamline processes and make it more a seamless buying journey for clients.

Matthew: I currently work in the legal department as a compliance apprentice. I started back in December 2020 being Christie’s first legal apprentice. In December 2021, on completion of passing my level 3 Apprenticeship. I was offered the opportunity by the company complete a level 6 (Degree) Apprenticeship as a Senior Risk and Compliance until 2025 becoming the first apprentice in the company to go on and start the next level of my apprenticeship.

Zach: I am a client service representative, so I work in the front-facing role. We man the cashier desk, phone lines and all the email inboxes.

What made you work at Christie’s?

Zach: My interest is in the art market, I want to become a specialist one day. But all of the specialist roles you look at need a university degree, and I don’t have a uni degree. So becoming an apprentice was one of the only ways I could get into the art market.

Molly: I had a school friend who was in the apprentice cohort above us and she had really positive things to say about the program. So I looked into it online and applied. 
I thought I was going to go to university when I finished school but then because of COVID, plans changed. But working at Christie’s instead has actually been a very hands-on learning experience. It’s been better than sitting in a classroom as I’m getting real work experience here.

Alice: I was kind of similar to Zach I suppose, in the sense that I’m super interested in the art world and it’s important for me to work in an industry that is interesting. I had a place to study History of Art at university and then I decided that I didn’t want to go. I looked around for further options and then working in the Post-War department here came up and it seemed like a great option.

Chloe: My sister’s friend worked at Christie’s and recommended their apprentice program. I left school not knowing what I wanted to do, so ended up applying and got offered the job!

Matthew: My story’s quite different. Finishing Sixth Form in March 2020, and completing a legal secretary course for two years. I was interested in the legal sector but I wasn't sure what route I wanted to go into. I had a variety of different websites I used to search for Apprenticeships and I saw Christie’s had a role as a compliance apprenticeship as it related to my legal secretary course. I applied and got the role. Since starting I have learned so much about my role and matured into a professional young adult.

Sum up your apprenticeships?

Matthew: Mine is very different from everyone else’s apprenticeships.  The qualification and apprenticeship is specialised in what I do such as compliance.  In addition to my apprenticeship I have complete the relevant qualifications that is specific in my role for Anti-Money Laundering.  By completing the apprenticeship I am now a qualified Compliance and Risk Officer.  

Chloe: Mine is actually very specific to my department as well because it is recruitment based. So at the end of my 15 months I’ll get a qualification for recruitment. 

Alice: Molly and I do the same course, and ours is in becoming data technicians. So it’s learning how to manage data and how to use Excel and creating graphs for things. Still learning, it’s a little hard but we get nice transferable skills at the end of it.

Molly: It’s been quite transferable so far. It’s not specific to our role as such, it’s more specific to software and processes and data we share within the company and that's transferable within most departments.

Zach: What most apprentices and their cohorts did was the data qualification but mine was business administration. It was basically learning business processes. There was a project management element where we took ownership of a project and moved it forward to a point of implementation.

What are the best features of working at Christie’s?

Chloe: Within your apprenticeship 20% of your week is dedicated to studying towards your apprenticeship qualification and sometimes it’s dedicated days. So you could spend a whole day doing your apprenticeship work. We’ve been introduced to this new thing where we can have a mentor. So people in the business are offered to become a mentee. So if you have any problems and you don’t feel comfortable going to your manager, you can go to a mentor.

Zach: I had a mentor last year and he was the co-head of HR. It was really helpful actually, to have someone to talk to. They aren’t necessarily anyone in your direct team, but become another point of call who you can chat to about anything.

Matthew: I found the mentorship from my apprenticeship tutor and my colleagues to be brilliant. They give you certain advice and from a different perspective, which is what I think you need as a young person starting your career in the corporate environment.

Many companies do not offer mentorship programs and that’s what is really good about Christie’s.

Alice: I’d say another great thing about working at Christie’s is the art. It’s like a massive art gallery that changes every 2 weeks. And instead of standing behind a rope and viewing it you’re encouraged to go up to it. And outside the mentor scheme I find everyone here to be very passionate and friendly and they're willing to answer any questions or anything.

Molly: Because everyone is so lovely we’re allowed to shadow people as well and fit time in our schedules to do so. So this week I’m helping the art handling team. But like Alice said, I’ve been able to walk around and see art around the building and you don’t really get to do that anywhere else.

Chloe: Another thing is that they put on a lot of great events. A lot of networking opportunities. 

Zach: We actually hosted the QuizMaster, a charity quiz that happens twice a year. The last one we had 180 people in the room, there was pizza and we raised a lot of money for the Ukraine crisis.

What advice would you give to a young person who wants to start a career in arts and culture?

Molly: Get a job at Christie’s!

Zach: Apply to be an apprentice!

Alice: Obviously apply for as much as possible. And also you know, if you say you’re interested in working in galleries, there's loads of galleries around here. Go in and chat to the people who work there. A lot of people who work in arts and culture are really passionate about what they do and they’ll probably be really happy to speak to you and tell you to start some work experience with them or they’ll give you tips on how they landed their role.

Zach: I’d say the key thing is to go out there and talk to people. Make the connections.

Molly: A lot of galleries around here know each other so they might be able to point you in the right direction.

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