Level 4 Project Management Apprentice Review

My role is a project management apprentice. Over the two years I have four six month long placements. These allow me to see many different areas of the business and to cover any knowledge where each placement is in different stages. Daily tasks is helping the APMs and PMs to deliver the project. I gain more responsibility as I learn and prove my skills. Helping to write up documents, spreadsheets and setting up meetings is where it starts and as I gain more experience my tasks become more challenging in order to aid my learning.

I have learnt many new skills. Using applications specific to the railway as well as excel and power point. I have also developed on my communication g skills as I have practised speaking in meetings and engaging with stakeholders. I have also began to learn how to deal with different types of people and to assess behaviours when communicating.

I really enjoy my programme, TFL have a great system allowing us apprentices to see the whole business through the two years. TFL cares a lot about their apprentices and put a lot of time and effort into developing our skills and making us great project managers by the time we roll off.

Our programme is very well organised the four placements is perfect to fill any knowledge gaps. We have a great relationship with our training provider which allows us to ask them for any help in terms of the classroom side of things. We are allowed one day a week for studying which great to research anything I have learnt during the week that I may not fully understand and also to work on our presentations and exams for the end of our apprenticeship.

We receive plenty of support from our employer. We have weekly sessions to raise any problems or things we are struggling with and we all know where to go if any further help is needed. TFL as a company takes a lot of pride in their apprenticeship and graduate schemes they want to give us as much support as possible and develop our skills the best they can while we are here.

We receive lots of support from our trainer provider. We have two 121s every month with someone from the company. We then have reviews with our managers and Realise every two months as well as all the lessons where we can raise questions. They also have an online system where we can record all our learning and display any knowledge gaps we may have.

Our trainer provider not only teaches us the fundamentals to project management but also working in a corporate world teaches us communication skills as well as reading behaviour and dealing with conflicts. As we go through the topics with the training provider I can see a real difference when I am at work as I understand the translation of what we have been taught and how it links to my placement, this shows how the qualification I am working towards is making me a better project manager.

We have a graduate, apprentice and intern page which hosts so many different activities such as- Mental health walks, book clubs, football teams for both men and women, socials once a month and many more. All these are great opportunities to get involved and network with others. TFL itself hosts many different networking events with different companies and within TFL

Yes

The whole organisation is happy to help and want to improve your skills. Their is so many opportunities to see different sides of the business and to get on site seeing hands on work. The qualifications you get are fantastic and will display to everyone how much you have learnt. Their is a job for you as an APM at the end of the scheme so the security of that is another reason. Free travel on TFL and 100s of other benefits are a great reason to join.

Don't hesitate its a great place to work and you can learn so much. There is a great variety of different schemes to apply for and so much to get involved in. If you want to peruse development sessions to build skills in different areas they are more than happy to help.