Business admin apprentice Review

My job title is a 'Business administration apprentice'. My job role daily includes doing things such as writing reports, taking meeting minutes, scanning, shredding, writing letters, etc.. I also have a role of covering reception; within my reception role I am responsible for handling incoming and outgoing post. Booking meeting venues, and also taking any phone calls that reach our business. Within our business we are made up of around 10 different teams. I am currently working in a team called Programme and network occupancy, within my team we are responsible for booking road space and putting closures on the road for repairs to take place. Everyday I have to check the Highways system and make sure their are no clashes on the network, I also have to enter new booking forms into the system on a regular basis.

Since I have been involved with my apprentice I have gained an IT functional skills qualification. For this I had to spend 1 full day within a training centre, I had to take part in a course for 3 quarters of the day and then sit an exam. This is a major benefit for me as in school I didn't complete my IT course however within my apprenticeship I was able to gain this qualification. I have also taken part in some internal courses such as an innovation course and a lean awareness course that I gained many skills from such as; independence, responsibility, how to think outside the box and how to overcome any issue I may face.

I enjoy everything about my programme, I enjoy my team and the work that I am given on a day to day basis. The course on a whole has beat my expectations, I feel the content of the course is perfect and well suited for me. I enjoy completing the work regularly as it makes me feel like I have achieved something. I am half way into my course and am really enjoying it. I would only recommend one improvement and that would be to maybe have more regular visits.

I feel very valued my costain, I feel that my manager is very appreciative of me and I feel that my manager is very helpful and supportive of my apprenticeship. I have been invited on various costain courses and project days where I feel I have been valued and am very thankful for the opportunities.

From the beginning my apprenticeship has been well organised, on my first day I was given an induction which included everything I needed to know about the business and also how my programme would work and fit into this. Within this first week I was able to attend 3 training courses allowing me to get more knowledge about how things worked in more detail. My studying fits into my programme well, for example every Monday I have a full day to study and complete any work I may have. On top of this I have regular meetings with my assessor which keeps me on track as far as studying is concerned. Every day when I arrive at work my line manager has a list of tasks for me to complete and I feel that I am 100% aware of who is where is the business hierarchy. I am very happy with my apprenticeship as I feel it balances study and work very well and overall is very well organised.

I have a mentor who visits me every 4-5 weeks for a 3 hour appointment. In these meetings I am able to gain support I may need on work and to mark any work I have completed. I feel that my training provider are 100% there for me and are there to support me. I have telephone and email contacts to get in touch with my mentor. I am invited into a centre to complete coursework regular which makes it easier sometimes. I really enjoy it.

My manager is very supportive of my apprenticeship, he is supportive as he allows time for me to complete coursework and makes me feel welcome to ask any questions I may have. HR are also supportive as I feel that they have arranged many courses for me to attend. My training mentor supports me with my work, making it easier to complete. I also feel with my mentor that they would often help with out of work problems.

My salary meeting my costs fully. With my monthly wage I am able to have independence as I am able to pay my own social costs such as; phone bills, shopping money and driving lessons. I am also able to pay for things such as my own travel costs, daily costs such as; lunch money. Having a wage each month allows me to be independent in ways where I don't have to fully rely on anyone anymore. The only downfall with my wage is that I am paid monthly, if it was up to me I think I would prefer to be paid weekly or fortnightly.

Throughout the year we have many events that take place inside and outside of the workplace. We have company events such as Road shows, costain update days and so on. We also have company activities such as innovation activities. Voluntary activities are also available, and we are also vey involved with schools and the community. there are webinars available that any costain employee can complete. Before I found my apprenticeship I was studying at college however I felt that there wasn't a lot of opportunities available.

Yes

I would recommend costain to a friend as I feel that you can gain many qualifications and benefits out of it. You are able to learn new skills as within the company there are hundreds of different departments and career routes available. There are ways that you can gain new contact as there are that many outside costain events that allow you to meet new faces. It is also a very well organised and well structured course which I think everyone will enjoy. the support given is amazing and the opportunities are very good.

Be yourself. If you are applying for a job at costain it is important that you be yourself with your own personality, have a mission in the back of your mind that you can share with others. I would also advise people to do some major research on the company before hand.