Technical Apprentice Review

I am a second year technical apprentice at Leonardo. When I first joined the company I was at college full time for 9 months. Now that I am on site I follow a placement rotation plan, spending 3 months (or 6 in some cases) in different departments within the company. Previously I have had placements in our Threat Vulnerability Analysis and Countermeasure Development department, Quality Assurance and Sales and Marketing. I am currently in Component Selection/Obsolescence. I do a lot of extra-curricular work including school visits, work experience support and in work employee initiatives.

So far on my apprenticeship, I have acquired my PEO in Engineering and am working towards completing my BTEC Level 3 and NVQ Extended Diploma Engineering Technical Support. I have been on multiple internal training courses for requirements writing, manual handling training etc. I have had the opportunity to go to lecturers at the IET HQ to broaden my knowledge of Electronic Warfare. The apprenticeship has already taught me so many invaluable lessons including how to present myself in a formal environment and how to improve my organisation.

I very much enjoy my apprenticeship. Not only does it provide me with the opportunity to gain qualifications with well established organisations, but also it has opened career path opportunities to me that I may not have ever considered before. The company is very employee orientated and values its employees providing them with health and pension schemes as well as multiple employee run initiative schemes to promote a friendly environment. The apprentice community is also much better than I imagined it would be with a great support network.

Leonardo runs an employee recognition scheme which identifies when employees have gone above and beyond the requirements of their normal day jobs in an effort to support employee initiatives and school/STEM events. On multiple occasions, my additional work has been identified and I've been rewarded and given special thanks. When Leonardo works with schools in the local area it is very well received and leads to recurring event invites etc. Leonardo also runs an annual "Apprentice of the Year" competition in which the apprentices compete to be named the most successful apprentice of Leonardo that year, this has site, company wide and national stages.

I joined Leonardo in 2015 and found the application and induction process very smooth and involving. The training section of my apprenticeship is primarily done at an external college (Oaklands, Welwyn Garden City), throughout our first year of training there were some mishaps that could have been avoided but since the beginning of my second year the training has been much better. All of the on site training has been very good and the support network within Leonardo is highly commendable with mentors, NVQ assessors, apprenticeship managers, placement managers, co workers and ex/current apprentices all being more than happy to get involved. Apprentice are highly valued within Leonardo and do not get treated differently to any of the other employees.

Oaklands college (Welwyn Garden City) is the main training provider for the Leonardo apprenticeship. although there were some problems to begin with, the training provider is not much more understanding of what is required from them in terms of support. Any previous problems have now been resolved. The teaching is of a good standard and the facilities available are brilliant with IT rooms, 3D printers, lathes, welding stations etc.

There have recently been some changes to the management of the apprenticeship training team but this has in no way effected the support available. The managers at Leonardo are all very supportive of apprentices going through all of the schemes available. From my experience with the HR team at Leonardo, they are very supportive and considerate. Not all of the apprentices at Leonardo have their own mentors but those who do are very pleased with the involvement they have had in increasing the opportunities for their mentees to be offered.

I am currently on £15, 000 per year and have a 1:2 ration pension input by Leonardo. Leonardo is based in a very accessible location with very good transport links. College is less accessible (Welwyn Garden City) but Leonardo arranged for a minibus to be put on for the apprentice who can't drive/don't feel comfortable driving the distance. The apprenticeship pays well above minimum wage and offers many discounts to local gyms etc.

Leonardo has an employee run initiative known as "Fit For the Future" which arranges for annual corporate events to be put on as well as weekly sporting activities and monthly visits to RAV bases and theatres etc. There is a good sense of community spirit at Leonardo and they are always striving to improve this. I have been heavily involved with this particular scheme when arranging Family Fun Days, Sons and Daughters into Work Days and visits to RAF bases etc.

Yes

An apprenticeship with Leonardo not only provides you with the opportunity to continue your studies to possible degree level, but also, it is a fantastic company to work for because it looks after it's employees and provided them with invaluable experiences that they may not have ever heard about before. Leonardo is a very high technology company at the front end of innovation and the apprentices are vital to it's progression.

Put 100% into every stage of the interview process and when you get the job remember to continue to treat every day of your apprenticeship as an interview and make everyday count. Don't be put off by hearsay about apprenticeship or placements, one man's trash is another's treasure. I did not attend the assessment centre stage of the interview process but it is important to not let yourself be drawn into bad behaviours. You miss 100% of the shots you don't go for.