Business Apprentice Review

In the apprenticeship at BAE Systems you get to do a wide range of roles throughout as you move placements every 20 weeks this means you get to experience different aspects of the business. In my everyday role now I am doing project based work which my team trust to give to me and let me get on with myself this involves meeting with managers and team members to gather information and putting them into my own excel documents or changing data that needs to be changed on the system. I have tasks I can come and get on with on a weekly basis and also get to attend meetings with my manager which gives me more knowledge about the business and different projects going on throughout the business.

I have developed personal skills throughout my time on the apprenticeship for example my confidence and communication skills. Due to the nature of the work I am arranging my own meetings with people I have never met before so therefore this takes a certain level of confidence to do so. I have also been in conference calls and meetings which means I have been speaking and leading calls which is something I have never done before in previous jobs. I have had many training courses throughout my time so far which will benefit me in and outside of work.

I really enjoy my programme. Due to being in an office based role in another job which I really did not enjoy coming to BAE has been a really good move for me and I am enjoying it a lot more than my old job. The teams I have interacted with so far have both been so welcoming and make you feel involved from the minute you come into their team by getting you involved in everything they are doing. The work that I have been given is good and interesting most of the time and you know the work you are doing is beneficial for the team. My expectations were met by the company in most cases. I have make loads of new friends throughout the programme due to people of the same age all starting at the same time which makes work life better when having lunch or going to a college week.

I feel very valued within BAE most of the time. In both my placements I have felt like a valued team member as both of the teams have had meetings with me and said how well I am doing and trusted me to do the work I am given which comes with responsibility. The teams get you really involved and take you to meetings with senior people which makes you feel like a valued member of the team because even though you can't add much input they still take you along to gain knowledge of the subject.

It is mostly always organised/structured. The induction was beneficial and gave us a chance to meet everyone. The training we receive is all helpful towards our personal and work skills development. The placements we get put in all are monitored to make sure they are not giving us too much/not enough work. We are in our placements for a set amount of weeks and have a college week every 5 weeks so in terms of the length of the apprenticeship it is very well structured.

The apprenticeship offers plenty of support and we know if we have any problems we have plenty of people to speak to about this. We have 12 weekly reviews to discuss our progress and make sure we are completely on track with our work which is beneficial for us. We have behaviour matrix's filled out so that when we go to our reviews our assessor can discuss any issues our manager has with us with them and us. We also know we can go to them at any time if we have any issues although sometimes it might be hard to plan a meeting with them as they are so busy. The training provider seem enthusiastic to support us as they want us to develop into good members of staff and get our qualifications.

The managers I have had so far I have felt very well supported with and I can go to them with any issues or queries I have. If I have had any questions I have been able to just email someone or ring them up and get an answer quickly and everyone seems happy to help. We can get mentors throughout the business which we can go to with any questions or in some areas we can have buddy's so any questions which you wouldn't want to go to your manager about you can ask these for example this could be about open options etc.

For me personally this salary doesn't meet my costs as I have come from another job I was used to a higher wage and have things to pay for e.g. car/rent etc so having this pay decrease has meant I've struggled but the wage soon increases and in just over a year I'll be back to a similar wage as to what I was on beforehand. If you are a school leaver or coming from a part time job then this wage is brilliant.

Throughout the apprenticeship there is loads of opportunity for opportunities out of work. The apprenticeship scheme has events on a lot of the time for example I have attended volunteering at St Catherine's Hospice and Army Reserves days etc. There is also opportunity's to do Prince's trust and the German Exchange which are all through the scheme so this could involve you going to Germany for 3 weeks as well as German students coming over to the UK for 3 weeks.

Yes

I have enjoyed my time so far at BAE Systems and it was as I expected it to be if not better in terms of how much involvement and responsibility you are given as an apprentice instead of the expectation that you are going to be doing small pointless jobs. As you are one of about 26 apprentices it is good as you have people in exactly the same position as you so the whole process is not as scary.

Make sure you stand out in your interview anything you have done outside of school and college is really well looked upon for skills in the workplace as well as part time jobs alongside college/school to show you can manage your time. If you do get on make sure you make the most of your experience and get involved in as many activities as possible as these go towards your NVQ and you will probably not get this opportunity when you leave the scheme.