Manufacturing Technical Apprentice Review

I am in my first placement as a manufacturing technical apprentice. My first placement is in Supportability department. So far my current day to day role is filling out important spread sheets and gathering data from various software used by the company. I have also been trusted with other important roles such as translation of documents and investigating problems with components.

During my apprenticeship I am studying a HNC in Engineering systems and have also gained a SVQ level 2 whilst getting to work towards level 3. I have also got to improve my communication skills getting to attend various meeting, network with people from other departments and using Emails which is something I haven’t used much in a professional sense. My Excel skills have also improved due to constantly getting to use it.

I am very happy to have got onto the Apprenticeship Programme as I am aware that it is a highly sought after role and I have enjoyed the opportunities provided by Leonardo and appreciate the effort that they put into the apprenticeship I have always been someone who is happiest being challenged and Leonardo have provided that.

The apprentice team are make me feel appreciated as a fellow member of staff they are always able to listen and actively try to improve an already good programme and they let you know when you have done a good job. My department make me feel valued by trusting me with jobs to do and are patient and willing to help me learn.

getting on to the programme can feel long winded and stressful as if you apply for the job right away you can be waiting a while to here back (due to number of applicants) you then have test and assessment centres to attend which takes a couple of months after that the programme is more streamlined this year hasn't been as organised for the certain roles such as SQA assessors due to reason I'm not informed on.

Leonardo send you to college where you upon your SVQ 2 and HNC there is a lot of support to help you feel confident passing your tests they also teach you a lot of relevant information. some of the lecturers are ex employees so they can help give guidance and advice on things if you would rather talk to them

The company do the best they can to help make you feel supported as a lot of them are ex apprentices they understand your feelings and concerns and a lot of them are good at easing your nerves they also provide you points of contact with an apprentice from the year above because they have been through it more recently and can be easier to talk to than management

As guy who is very lucky to have a lot of support and not a lot of living costs I have more than enough money from my salary for a comfortable happy lifestyle that's also takes into consideration the cost of my bus fares when required at work I spend just under £9 a day at the work on food this doesn't make to much of a dent in to my budget and is worth the money

The company are very active in trying to help the local community charities and schools they provide lots of opportunities to take part in events such as football or marathons to raise money for charities they are constantly appearing at schools trying to raise an interest in STEM Subjects and jobs

Yes

The company is very ~Rewarding and makes me feel valued you get a very good salary while also gaining qualifications there is also a lot of opportunity to advance upwards within the company as there is an ageing demographic and they are wanting to train the apprentices to help take over these people when they leave.

When applying for the company make sure you add a cover letter and explain qualification levels as they rejected me due to ambiguity within th wording of my clarification. also don't feel down or assume your not good enough to get in if you get rejected the first time it sometimes takes a couple of attempts to get in. also practice ratios