APPRENTICE Review

My role is to keep on top of maintenance activities and report any defects found while carrying out those tasks. There is a tremendous amount of responsibility involved with my work and it gives the job a high level of importance.

During these 9 months i have worked for national grid i have developed a lot of my practical engineering skills. Some of the new skills i have learnt involve talking to senior meembers of a team i.e managers of all levels as we are pushed out of our comfort zones which develops skills in all areas.

Some aspects of the programme are great and have a good balance of practical and theory however there are other elements which dont give a clear understanding of how they are important to our role and are also delivered in a powerpoint fashion. The company has a great view on ethics in the workplace and this is drilled into us from the offset which allows a very comfortable working environment.

Everyone i have met here enjoys their work and this runs right through the workforce. I feel that we are valued to do an important job by the company we work for and this contributes to peoples good attitudes and moods. On a whole i feel very valued by the company

Unfortunately there have been numerous changes to our programme throughout the apprenticeship due to certain things, but we are getting everything we need to get done complete. The main reason for most of the changes have been because of changes to the courses and not a good idea of how long is actual required by each course.

We have a 10 weekly review where we are allowed to discuss any issues we have. There are also people we can call should be have any problems with the course of people within the programme. Our training provider helps us a lot as a group and individually and there is always support needed by our main tutor and any other people in the training centres.

I can sometimes find it hard to access support via the infonet or sharepoint. Programme manager can be hard to get hold of sometimes Line manager is always there if i need help via phone/text/email etc. I am fairly happy with the amount of support I receive overall and know how I can ask for more support too.

The salary we receive at this early stage in the programme is very good. As we are in the basic training and don’t offer the company much at the minute they pay us a fair wage which is higher than a lot of other similar apprenticeships i have seen. I look to work my way up the ladder and buy a house in the near future as my salary increases too.

The employees get together on various occasions outside of work. There are fun days in the summer and your usual Christmas do's. In my 9 months here i have been out to do various things with people from work including volunteering opportunities although this was inside works time.

Yes

As i have thoroughly enjoyed my work here so far and believe national grid is a great company to work for who respects and values its employees. I think people should definitely go for this as it is a great opportunity and the company ensures you are looked after and cared for.

To involve yourself in as many opportunities they give you as this greatly improves your skills and makes you discover things about yourself you didn’t’ know. Work hard and you will be rewarded. There are lots of chances to better yourself so take those with both hands. I would also say to be yourself and honest.