Project Management Higher Apprentice Review

My current placement is within Class Performance and Business Management for the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier. My main responsibilities include managing one of the control accounts (including reporting of actuals and forecasting of hours/ cost), tracking earned value and leading on LfE (learning from experience). My work varies on a daily basis depending which part of the financial cycle we're in; daily tasks could be anything from reviewing in-month spends with team leads to creating metrics.

I am currently studying for a foundation degree in project management so through this I have learnt a vast amount of theoretical practise. I am then able to apply this learning to my placement setting to get a better understanding of how processes work and why they're used. I also go on lots of training courses: from a 3-day Change Team Leader course to Mental Health Awareness. All of the learning experiences I have had have enabled me to gain a broader understanding of the workplace and a greater appreciation of how things are managed.

Very much: all the teams I have been a part of have been incredibly friendly and engaging and as a large amount of employees were once apprentices themselves they are very appreciative of the value of apprenticeship schemes and the breadth of learning they provide.

I feel very valued at BAE Systems. The local internal recognition is great and there are multiple opportunities to get involved in new exciting opportunities. BAE Systems is very good at listening to our feedback and continuously improving the schemes based on our experiences which makes me feel like my thoughts and opinions are very much valued.

The internal aspect of the programme is very well organised; the induction is always run by the previous years' apprentices so they can use their own experiences of their inductions to tailor an improved induction to the new cohort. Numerous review points are built in to the placement cycle to ensure that progress is structured and monitored regularly. The training provider on the other hand is not as well organised. As our training provider is located on the other side of the country, our scheme doesn't have the same accesses and tools that programmes local to the training provider receive.

Due to the geographical separation, support and guidance is not as good as it should be. Communication is the main cause of this as the distance means that we have to communicate via email which takes a long time. The head of course is, however, very supportive but the location difficulties mean that this engagement doesn't happen that often.

Support from BAE Systems is very good. All apprentices are able to join a mentor scheme in order to get support and guidance from a professional within the business and the HR and Early Careers services are very responsive and positive in their approach to support.

The salary is very generous relative to other schemes. There is disparity between salaries for the same schemes in different business units though - i.e. salaries in some of the northern sites are higher than the southern sites for the same schemes despite the cost of living being lower in the south. Having said that, the schemes do end on the same amount but there is no organisation-wide salary progression standard for the same schemes.

BAE Systems is very supportive of its employees becoming STEM ambassadors and engaging in community investment and educational outreach. There is also scope to join competitions like the APM challenge and AIC challenge and managers are very supportive of this.

Yes

The scheme is an excellent way to gain both theoretical and practical experience at once; it's incredibly valuable to be able to immediately apply what you've learnt in class to your day job and use your studies to be able to critically analyse the current ways of working.

The application process is quite complex with an application form, online tests and an assessment day including interview. My best advice would be to research up on the company and the specific business unit you're applying for and to prepare answers to questions beforehand so you have an idea of what you could say. The on-boarding process at BAE is brilliant and you'll be buddied up with an existing apprentice before you start so you can ask whatever questions you have.