Quality Assurance Trainee Review

My Job role title is Quality Assurance Trainee and as part of the Trainee Scheme I spend between 3-6 months on placements exploring different areas of the business and gain experience and acquire new competencies across the Quality function. One of the best things about this scheme is that my day to day work varies so it keeps me on my toes and provides with me with challenges every day. This is a great way to learn and develop at a fast rate, but with the support behind me to help me if I struggle.

I feel that my personal and professional development has come on leaps and bounds since I started my traineeship here at BAE Systems. Just to summarise some of my new skills: - Confidence to approach people and either request assistance, guidance, advice, approvals and etc. - Skills on IT such as excel, power point and Visio - Managing time and prioritising jobs to ensure that I get the most out of each work day and maximise my efficiency

I am really enjoying my time on this programme and have been given a chance to work on fascinating projects and work with subject matter experts who are always helping me grow and develop a competent Quality Engineer. Experiencing different areas of the company has been a great way to meet new people, keep my day to day jobs unique and fresh and helped me acquire a larger variety of skills which I can hopefully use and demonstrate in my exit role.

Despite being a Trainee, I feel very valued and secure in BAE Systems from all levels. From the head of early careers, my Quality Capability Manager and each of my placement managers have provided a wide support network and have dealt with any problems or queries I have raised with professionalism and care.

The Quality programme is a mixture of organised work but flexibility to pick and choose placements if the work allows. This can be a great benefit if I hear of exciting work in a certain area within the company, I can request a placement there and sit down with the local manager and try and organise something. However, the only downfall to this is that sometimes placement arrangements can be last minute and I have found myself having to pack and move my stuff very quickly.

My Training Provider (College) provides a very good level of support to all of us currently studying at the college. The tutors have provided with their email addresses (work emails) and are very quick at responding to questions, feedback from completed assignments and always willing to help outside of the college hours. During the lessons they also provide excellent support and try to make sure we never leave a lesson confused or worried about a question/topic.

As mentioned, I feel that BAE provides excellent support across all levels. I always feel that I can talk to any of my managers and I also receive support from other colleagues, not just the managers. I have regular review sessions not just to check my performance but to ask if I feel safe and confident in the work environment and make sure I don’t required additional support.

For my age and qualifications the salary package I am on is brilliant, especially seeing as the company are also paying for my training. The only reason why I have not scored this section higher is because any update/changes to our pay are always very confusing and it takes a while for any information regarding the changes to reach us and is usually not explained in the best way.

There are numerous opportunities for me to take part in sponsored events and external placements. There are frequent 'Stretch Assignments' which is a chance for BAE to give back to the local community and 'we' (Early Careers) are always given the chance to take part in these activities and represent BAE Systems externally. We can also take placements in other business areas e.g. Wharton (RAF) if there is a justified business case.

Yes

This scheme is a fantastic opportunity to start a career in a modern and exciting company and learn and develop in challenging but rewarding environment. Having the chance to work on one of the worlds most advanced technilogically challenging projects is a truly unique opportunity for any individual.

Try and do as much research on current BAE projects, weather this means looing on the external website or listening to any updates in the news. Making sure to revise any projects you will use in your interview is also a good start. There is nothing worse than getting asked about a project and having to remember on the spot the full details. And finally, just be yourself. BAE are looking for confident bright minded ambitious people but they don’t expect you to know everything from the start, this is a learning and development course.