Internal communications associate Review

I am an internal / employee communications associate - I send out communications notices to the MAI business and work on different tasks such as writing news stories, supervising filming, and provide guidance on the BAE Systems brand. I have interactions with people at all levels, whether these are other apprentices, colleagues, executives or directors. I have interactions with external companies when organising brochures or communications tools to be created. I have certain responsibilities within my team and although these differ sometimes, I always have a manageable yet challenging workload. I do lots of work with HTML creation and web page editing, such as updating internal websites.

Along with my ongoing NVQ qualification, I've done a number of internal and external training courses. These include LEAN working workshops, project managing training & simulation etc. I have developed my communication skills and I am comfortable with how to deal with the tasks I am given. My time management skills have also developed throughout my apprenticeship, meaning I'm able to prioritise my workload well.

I really enjoy my programme as I find the work really interesting. The company is a great one to work for and I find the projects we are involved in really interesting. The team I'm in is great and the placement I'm finishing my apprenticeship in has gone above and beyond my expectations for what I would be involved in.

I feel very valued - Although I am an apprentice and still learning, I am not treated as such by my team, they trust me to have my own responsibilities and allow me to work on challenging projects. I have received internal recognition as I was nominated for the MAI Business apprentice of the year award in 2016, and I have received an above and beyond recognition prize from my manager for some work I've done in the team. I was chosen to be a part of a team that is organising a global project management and control conference so I have lots of responsibilities with this that go beyond my day to day role.

It is fairly well structured. We received an interesting and helpful induction into the Company, especially on diversity and inclusion and integration into the workplace straight from school. We have support from our assessors when needed on the NVQ work we are given but there were quite a few occasions when it became difficult to get work marked or have meetings with the assessors as they had too many apprentices to focus on. The majority of the time though I can have a meeting with my assessor whenever I want and she is always really helpful and flexible with my deadlines as she understands priorities in the placements change each week.

As I mentioned in question 5, there was always support available from my assessor and even though there were times when it was more difficult to find time to meet with her, she would always get back to me as soon as she could. I always knew who to contact for general issues, placement problems or ethics queries and everyone on the training team was always really happy to help in whatever way they could.

I receive lots of support from my employer in different ways. My manager always helps in any way he can whether this is helping me with my day to day tasks if needed or providing extra training. As mentioned in question 6A, I always received great support from everyone I came into contact with and I was always aware of who to contact for specific issues.

My salary is a lot higher than the average apprentice minimum wage and meets my costs well - I am able to maintain my car, social needs and living needs with this.

There are many opportunities outside of work, such as air shows, education road shows and providing support to local schools and colleges to prepare students for interviews. BAE have a great ambassador programme that enables employees to get involved with these activities in the local community.

Yes

They really invest in apprentices and the support and training I have received has been excellent. I'm really happy with the progress I've made and couldn't imagine a better start to my career than the one BAE Systems have given me.

Make sure you read through your application before submitting it; spelling mistakes will mean your application goes to the bottom of the pile. If you get an interview, come armed with knowledge of the company and different examples to bring up to the ones you mentioned in your application.