Engineering apprentice Review

My program is primarily made up of college 4 days a week where I study electrical installation, mechanical craft and mechanical engineering, this is teamed with one day at work a week. At work I am currently shadowing the electrical engineers but every 4 months for the first year I will alternate between electrical, mechanical and instrumentation departments.

Yes, I came straight from school so had some theory based engineering knowledge but this is nothing compared to the skills I develop in the work situations and knowledge I gain from the very experienced people I am helping and learning from. AT the end of my program I should have level 3 qualifications in my 3 courses and then can go on to HND and higher level education to further my knowledge.

I thoroughly enjoy my programme, work is a great place to be and there are never 2 days the same, I always have something to do around site. The team are great of the people I have met, but with almost 1000 people on site there are still many more to meet. The company is great, they make sure I have everything I need and the whole programme has gone beyond my expectations which were already high.

I feel valued by GSK, I am being trained to become their engineers for the future and they make sure I get the best qualifications, knowledge and experience for every aspect of my development into my career.

The structure of the course is good, I had an induction week of all work to get used to being around site, after which I had my induction training for site. I have mentors to talk to about any problems I have and can always mention problems in the weekly apprentice meeting.

I receive good support from my training provider, although its a lot of work, they always push for me to be doing the most I can, this is why they put me on a third course at college.

Support from GSK is huge, not only do they keep track of all my college work and work on site but they provide everything I need for college, all my tools safety PPE and stationary was supplied to me by GSK, saving me a vast amount of money. BY them always keeping a check of my college work I know that if my work slips they will let me know and help me get back up to my highest standards.

From coming straight from school at 16 this is my first job and the salary is a huge bonus to me. After all my expenses such as rent and saving for a car and lessons, I find I still always have enough to have a good social life as well. I also have a good pension scheme already being paid into and a share scheme which is a great way to make money.

Yes, often there are events for all the apprentices in the country to come together and take part in challenges in outdoor events. I also am sent off site one day a year to take part in an event in my local community.

Yes

The program I am doing is thoroughly thought out and far exceeds my expectations, the experience I gain from working for such a vast international company is priceless and will benefit my greatly in my career.

My tips would be to really sell yourself in the first application form you send to GSK on-line as this is the first time they will ever see anything about you, I recommend using the full word count or as close to as you can for each question and structure your answers professionally, also later down the line you are given a date for an interview day at a GSK site, this is commonly made up of 2 groups of 6 people going to site and giving a formal presentation, doing a manual task individually and taking part in a group excercise, the best thing to do at this point is to just be yourself and don't be afraid to stand out in all the good ways they are looking for like confidence and listening ability, GSK normally pick 2 apprentices from the 12 so the interview day is the real make or break day.