Manufacturing Apprentice Review

my role of an apprentice for the first year involved working within a training centre called EEF. here, I learned mostly basic engineering principals as well as standard industrial business practices. the centre had very good facilities, equipment and support making it possible to get a high level of training. The leading team at the centre where great but as the centre and employees are fairly new, tutor support was weak and often mistakes where made that sacrificed time and work. for the second year, I was based on site within cadburys Bournville. this is the most crucial time of the apprenticeship and requires the apprentice to be very self motiveated. opportunities will arise to do projects and work within all areas of the factory. these opportunities often include "Project Work" which will involve communicating with others in your team as well as workers on the line. keep in mind that these opportunities are often optional although they will give a huge boost to your reputation and crucial CV material so they will likely become your most valuable asset in the recruitment process when the time comes to apply for roles. Over all, I would say that this apprenticeship is a huge opportunity that will grant a self motivated applicant with a way into the industry, useful knowledge, and theoretically a reliable and high paying job. my best advice would be to prepare for unexpected conditions and situations, and to deal with them in a way that does not hinder your reputation as a model employee as the course is not completely predictable and your end goal will be to gain full time employment in an ideal role. I'm giving the role an 8 out of 10 over all because I feel the experience and opportunities alone worth 10 and that my experience was worth a 10, but the unpredictability of the role means I cannot guarantee an identical experience.

yes. many skills around engineering and industry practices. both being essential for the role.

The programme for me was a good experience mainly due to the teams and people that I worked with who where top notch. the company culture, while can be unforgiving, is a proud one and improving at an exponential rate. As far as other employees and team members go, the course went above expectations.

Your value as an apprentice is entirely what you make it. You can add value by being proactive and getting involved in any projects of opportunities that you may encounter thus upping your own profile and footprint. alternatively, you can devalue yourself by showing little motivation and making it hard for other co-workers to notice or draw useful work from you. Im rating this at a 10, because I feel you have to make your own value within this company.

The program for me felt rushed and a few factors let the program down reguarding organisation and more specifically: how prepared they were to take on the apprentices and how prepared the training center where for a program like this one. The company have held the apprecticeship for many years so the basic structure and connections where their as well as excellent managegers however with the industry and business constantly evolving, I felt that they struggled to implement the current practices into the apprenticeship, often implementing them too late or creating teething problems throughout as the subjects where new and hadn't seen trial. this makes every year they take on undergo a different experience with the apprentices and management having to get used to the new changes and learn to implement them properly. in a way, this means that the apprenticeship will always be up to date and the practices you will learn will be appropriate for the time however, if the apprentiship was planned in a less reactive way, most teething problems and unpredictability could be avoided. I'm rating this category at a 6 as I feel the apprenticeships core structure is worked out and I understand how an ever-changing surrounding can make results unpredictable, but I personally felt that these subjects should have been tackled ahead of time rather than adapted to on a current basis.

The available support for the course was very good. everyone is assigned a personal tutor and most other members of the workforce where happy to help. regular meetings where held to find out how we felt the apprenticeship was going and weather any further support or changes where required making unique situations and needs easily handled. I'm rating this at a 10 as I felt the leading members where very proactive in making sure the correct support was given for each individual and matters where handled quickly.

I personally received all of the support that I needed and felt the team was very flexible at meeting support requirements. most problems would have to be taken up with an individual within the related sector (Such as HR). my manager and mentor where keen to point me and others in the right direction if a problem could not be directly sorted by them and genuinely wanted to see the apprentice team succeed in getting the support that they required, for this reason, I am rating this category a 10.

The salary of the role is very competitive when compared to other apprenticeships and increased by a small amount each year. however, like most apprenticeships, was definitely not enough to live comfortably within the area and did not match up with the hours and type of work when compared to most other jobs within and surrounding the company. Travel costs where not covered specifically and the location of the training centre is not the same every year however me and the other applicants had no problem commuting and the salary was enough to afford travel. My final verdict for this category is a 7 as the salary was very good compared to most other apprenticeships in the area and field but simply is not enough to afford most basic luxuries such as a car or house/apartment (with bills and food) and did not match up to the hours worked. I would however say that for the industry, you will find it hard to source a course with such a competitive salary and even harder to find one with the same scope and quality of opportunities after the apprenticeship is finished.

Their are plenty of events outside of the work role that will help you to boost your reputation and experience like representing the company at schools and centres which I highly recommend taking part in. most of these activities are related to work but any extra hours spent doing them can be taken back and you will be praised for making the extra effort

Yes

The opportunities within the course are some of the best in the industry and it provides great support along the way.

Be proactive. Don't hesitate to communicate with other staff as they are often keen to help. keep in mind that the end goal is permanent employment and the more experience and reputation you pick up along the way, the easier it will be to obtain this goal.