Project Management Apprentice Review

I am a Project Management Degree Apprentice working within Maritime Services. I work on continuous improvement, various Management Plans (i.e. SHE, Business Continuity). I work a lot with various stakeholders across maritime services including the RN and have a lot of involvement with our familiarisation and integration testing.

I have taken part in change coach training to help deliver continuous improvement and situational leadership on the project. I have also been on an LCM awareness course and hope to do the follow up courses as this was very useful. I am also a STEM Ambassador and have taken part in the WISE (Women in science and engineering) training to deliver the content to girls in schools.

I very much enjoy working in my current placement, there is enough work to keep be busy and lots of opportunity to expand my knowledge. The team I work with are very supportive and help me when needed. Regarding placements the scheme currently meets my expectations, however I struggle with the delivery of the college side of the scheme.

I think this is very dependent on the placement you are in, on my previous placement I did not feel particularly valued as I was on such a steep learning curve that I didn't contribute as much as I would have liked, and the team weren't as supportive. On this current placement I have received recognition for work I have completed, including an exceed award. I think it is difficult as an apprentice as people do not fully understand how much you know and what is expected of you.

Since we were only the second year on the scheme I feel that it has got more structured throughout our time here, there is always room for improvement, particularly with moving placements and informing placement managers what is expected of apprentices. I think that there could be more training opportunities given to us, rather than expecting us to find our own training and then request funding for it. I do feel that there is good support from the early careers side, however I have not always felt supported by the college and we have had a lack of any tutorials or one to one sessions.

In previous semesters I have felt more supported, however I do not feel that our tutor has been as accessible this year. There is however support from higher levels in the college that I have found useful recently. I do not feel comfortable talking about general problems with the tutor as I do not feel he has a good attitude towards support or guidance.

I feel that there has been good support from the employer, I have a mentor who has been very helpful with career and placement guidance. I know where to go for support with problems and queries.

Personally, I still live at home so currently my salary is sufficient for travel, daily and social costs. However, I feel that if I had my own house or was renting this would be different.

I think that there are opportunities, but we are not sufficiently made aware of these. I have attending an APM dinner with my placement team which was very interesting, and there are lots of opportunities with STEM Ambassadors.

Yes

I would recommend it because I think that as a company it is a good place to get experience and the scheme is already set up to assist them in doing that.

I would say to read up a lot about the company before the assessment days and interviews. I think that it is important that you are able to apply your past experience to relevant situations, and just to remain calm!