Technical Apprentice Review

I'm employed as a Technical Apprentice within Tulip Ltd. Tulip is a vast network of food manufacturing plants with a wide range of opportunities. Some of my daily tasks include; Dealing with customer complaints, sending food samples to the lab and having them analysed, taking part in audits, spending time within the factory learning processes, Creating Procedures, Logging complaints to our suppliers, completing end of month KPI Reports and communicating with our customers. We attend meetings throughout the week with different departments to learn what is currently going on in the business. We are involved with trips to other sites and farms. Within technical there are always projects available to work on, usually when you want to impliment a change to have a positive outcome on a process. As an example you may be getting a large amount of complaints for one issue, the aim would be to fix the root cause of that issue and help eliminate complaints. It is very rewarding when a project you have worked on has a positive impact on the company. I interact daily with my Technical Manager and QA Team Leader. I also have selected time each week to work on my university studies and I have access to speak with anyone in Tulip Network that may be able to help me with that particular module and they always are able to provide me with good resources for my university work.

I started off at Tulip ltd as a Technical Administrator, then I got accepted onto the apprenticeship in September 2017. It has been great for me as I'm not developing my knowledge of technical which is helping me understand the food manufacturing world a lot better.The university provides you with additional short courses you can attend such as BRC Auditing and Microbiology. The aim of the degree and together with your work placement is to allow you to not just focus on one area of technical or manufacturing but a larger range. You may find that you are drawn to the NPD Department, QA Department, Quality Systems or even progress to being a technical manager. I've learn a lot already and I'm starting to now take my knowledge from univeristy and put this into the work I'm doing at Tulip Ltd.

Before I began the university course I was scared as I hadn't been in education for nearly 10 years. I thought this was going to be really out of my league and maybe I wouldn't understand much. However, after our induction week it was quite clear that although it can be challenging at times, the lecturers at the universtiy are always at hand to help you with any questions. With University as long as you put a plan in place to spend the time studying and researching, it's not as difficult as you may think it is. You just have to be willing to put in the time and effort. There are times when you will get a break like Christmas and the summer time. So don't think it is constand university studying all day everyday, because some of the learning is done practically at work.

I feel very valued at Tulip. I've recently been invited to the site's review meeting with the board of directors which was great as they were provided the apprentices with an opportunity to voice their opinion, at the same time I got to listen to everything that was going on within the business and how it all relates together to achieve one goal. My manager is always happy to answer any questions or help me with my university work. My QA Team Leader is also a great help as she has previously done the course that I'm on, so appreciates the effort and time that has to be put in.

My program is very structured. On your induction week you are provided with a two year timetable from the university. When all of your assignments are due or when your next module is going to start. Your lecturers tell you when the assignment is due and when to expect your marks back. Although at first it seems hard to find the work balance and studying balance, eventually it falls into place and everything starts to coincide with each other. We have a work based mentor and a mentor at university, so you always have someone to speak to if you have any concerns.

Support is always available, you can send an e-mail in the middle of the night and you will get a response the next morning. Not only do you have your assigned mentor at university but you also have any of the lecturers to speak to, your manager at work, your colleagues at work or anybody within Tulip that you think could you help you with your work.

Support is provided from; My Technical Manager, My Team, My Colleagues in different departments, HR, Directors of the company. Everyone at Tulip is so positive and willing to help if you are an apprentice. I've been put into contact with people I've never met, but they have responsed to my queries really quickly and allowed me to have access to resources that I didn't even know existed before I started the apprenticeship. Tulip as a company try the best they can to support the apprentices because they have the potential to become managers and leaders in the future.

My salary is more than adequate for my university. you only have to travel to the university in Lincoln three times a year. The rest of the time you are studying at home and work. You can have access to any univeristy library in the country , so don't worry if you live far from Lincoln. I currently live three hours away and I don't drive, but it never causes me any stress. Resources you can buy from online shops, but you will find that resources are readily available from the univeristy libraries or at work.

We've enjoyed an apprentice induction fun day at one of our sister sites, which put all the tulip apprentices together for the day which was great fun. Think it made everyone relax a little before they started their course. When I'm not working a still have time for a social life, don't think that once you start a degree your confined to work and studying constantly. You just have to plan your time well. If I know I have a night out on a saturday. I will make sure I've done enough studying that week leading up to the saturday so i can enjoy my night out without having to think about univeristy.

Yes

Although at first you may be sticking to one field, as an example I'm doing technical. There are so many opportunities within technical that you can find a particular area you enjoy and really focus on that area and end up with a permanent position after you complete your degree. They are really supportive at Tulip and once your within the food manufactuing industry (although at times doesn't seem super glamorous), the world is your oyster and it will open so many doors within an industry that will never slow down as everyone needs to eat!

Really try and think about the apprenticeship you would like to do. Technical is university based and you spend time studying a learning new information within technical. Engineering is a lot more practical and hands on, but you will be at college for a block of six weeks. You have butchering apprenticeship which is all practical learning on the job without having to attend college or university and there are others such as accountacy and business management to consider. It's a global brand and the opportunities are endless.