Business Administration Apprentice Review

General estimating and contracting activities. I attended meetings and had more input as I got more confident within my role. In estimating, I populated cost models and clearance packs for bids and in contracts, I'm working on work authorisations and offer letters.

Developed general IT knowledge and become a lot more confident on Excel as I used it all the time in my last placement. Confidence gained with speaking to new people in person and over the phone and a better understanding gained of the business and how it works.

I really enjoy my programme, I've always had enough work to do to keep me busy and there is sometimes other events and activities going on around site that you can attend too. Both teams I've worked for so far have been really helpful and supportive.

I think people you speak to in the company are all interested in the apprenticeship and what you're doing in your placements. In my last placement, I was involved with a lot of projects which I was trusted to lead a number of which helped better my understanding of the role I was in. The new training school built for the apprentices at Samlesbury is open for us when we need it.

Most of the programme is well organised as they tell us in advance where we will be moving placements to, when we will be starting our college courses etc. The only thing I would say is that we don't get confirmed dates of when our pay rises are which I would like to know to plan my finances around with having a car and car insurance etc to pay for.

Tutors and assessors are easily contactable by email or phone if we have any problems and at the beginning of the apprenticeship we had one to ones to make sure we'd settled in and weren't too stressed etc. They tell us to contact them if we ever have any problems.

Both managers I've worked for so far have helped me with my work and made sure I understand anything I've been struggling with. If my manager isn't there, I've had someone in the team who is able to support me with the work I'm doing and sit with me to talk through it all.

I'm able to cover my living costs at home such as board and run a car whilst still have some disposable income left each month. I'm also placed at the site closest to where I live so travel costs are pretty low but these would increase if I got moved to the other site.

The apprenticeship runs a Prince's Trust programme which I'm currently taking part in and a German Exchange programme. I know there are sports clubs within the company such as netball but I don't really know too much about it. There are often some opportunities for voluntary events such as the recruitment nights and charity events that are run within the company.

Yes

It's a really reputable company to work for and they look after their staff. The wages are good as an apprentice and there are a lot of opportunities going as far as trips abroad for work. With it being such a broad company, there is opportunity to move around during your career.

Take time with your application and include any team work based activities that you've taken part in such as Duke of Edinburgh. If you get an interview, make sure you can talk about what is on your application in detail and ensure that the project you take for discussion is in depth enough for you to answer questions on and that you know it well enough for you to talk about it.