Project Manager Review

I am currently undertaking a Project Management apprenticeship. The role provides a unique opportunity to be involved with the future development of the company where your impact has a tangible affect on both departments and other people working. Since I began, I have operated both as a supportive role and a leading role. As I gain more experience, I move further towards the latter. By supporting other project managers within the Projects & Change team, it decreases the stress from their workload whilst also allowing them to prioritise tasks more effectively. My support can come in a number of ways, facilitating meetings, data management and action tracking, progress reporting on their behalf, and engaging with their project team for any other needs. As my apprenticeship has gone on, I have become a bit more independant with certain tasks that are strictly under my ownership. One of my responsibilities is Portfolio Management, where I am accountable for making sure that the progress of all ongoing projects within the business is presented to the relevant senior leadership team. For another project I am currently in the process of stakeholder management and risk management.

I am developing a level 4 qalification with corusework and an upcoming exam, this is the equivalent of a foundation University degree. On top of that I am devoloping a wide range of functional skills such as effective time management, task prioritisation, engaging with other workers, and a deeper understanding of the business.

I haven't looked back since starting. There is a vast amount on offer here not noly with this apprenticeship, but by AstraZeneca in general. it was a dauntingly big move from London to Macclesfield but so far my progress has been well worthwhile.

There is a consistent high level support from both team and manager within my workplace and I definately feel valued. Every co-worker is looking out for me and wanting me to get the best out of the apprenticeship whilst imparting their knowledge.

For the most part the structure is left for me to organise. I have a lot of independancy and freedom to plan out my weeks. However for the most part, since a lot of my roles and responsibilties rely on input and information from others, I am somewhat limited to how quick or how slow I can complete a task. This requires me freqently having to fill in the gaps. One of the worst weeks was during Easter when unfortunately a vast amount of people had booked holiday so were not at work for me to engage with. This meant I had to reorganise my calendar otherwise I would have been left without any work to do. The coursework side of things is also very much up to me. Whilst my tutor expects something at least once every two months, how I plan time to achieve that is entirely down to me booking it in. The initial induction to the company was very well driven and gave a great start for both myself and other apprentices.

I recieve a sufficient amount of support. I keep in touch with my tutor very regularly to ensure that I am not falling behind. She is also very helpful with maintaining that I am covering all the topics in sufficient detail.

My Line Manager is always making sure that I have no issues within the workplace. We have frequent catch-up meetings to discuss progress and how I am doing with regards to my work load. He always takes the wellbeing of his projects team very importantly and is eager to support in any way he can to make sure their morale stays high.

As a standalone income, it would not be enough for my living costs. However, I have a second income so I am not having to budget as much as I would need to.

There is a programme called AZ Inspire where plenty of workshops and learning sessions are available for the apprentices to attend and learn something new. The AZ community also gets discounts on certain things such as gym memberships etc.

Yes

Purely because I don't know why I wouldn't recommend it, it's a fantastic opportunity and a great first step into the world of work.

Your apprenticeship is what you make of it, you have a really big chance to hit the ground running into the world of work whilst also being young with fresh ideas and thoughts. By the time some of your friends come out of Uni, you'll already have either a secure job or the freedom of being able to apply at almost any company of your choosing with the knowledge and expertise gained from the apprenticeship at AZ. Don't take this for granted!