Higher Apprentice in Planning Review

As you go through the business on 4 monthly placements, your day to day role will change throughout, this is because you chance the function that you work within to gain an oversight of the business as a whole. Different functions include, Risk, Planning, Project Controls, Governance, General Project Management and all of these can be different depending on which project you are working within. The day to day role usually involves different computer based and evidence gathering work, a lot of communication with different people is required and you should be competent in use of computer software to aid in your apprenticeship. Overall a great experience, however sometimes, you can be placed into a workplace where your placement manager cannot provide a structure or amount of work that satisfies your needs.

I have developed plenty of new skills in this apprenticeship, this is because I do not come from a project management or planning background. Work with different software and repositories such as oracle primavera P6 and Teamcenter will help me in my future role as a planner. I have also gained many interpersonal skills and gained confidence over the short time I have worked here. Overall you learn many skills and quickly ensuring good career progression.

I enjoy the programme and the work I am doing on a day to day basis. I enjoy interacting with the many new faces and people you get to meet working within the company. however, I have found that some of the tasks given to you as an apprentice have been meaningless and mundane in some placements. Although as you progress through the apprenticeship the placement managers begin to trust your work more and more and therefore, provide more skilful jobs and tasks.

the programme as a whole is very structured in terms of the business capability, however due to the fact that the apprenticeship is a trailblazer new apprenticeship some of the outcomes required such as the end point assessments and evidence required are unclear and this can lead to worry and stress. Overall good however some placements aren't very structured it depends on what placement manager you get.

The support level within the business is very high. Whatever problem you have there is a person or contact to speak to in regards to this. there are also many external helplines provided to you. This support comes in through; line managers, placement managers, discipline managers, human resources, skills coaches, colleagues and friends/peers.

Support from the training provider has been adequate, some of the lecturers will willingly help you and get you through what you need if you ask a question. However, some of the lecturers struggle to keep the classes attention and this can lead to inefficient learning experiences. The lecturers in my opinion are very knowledgeable and provide assistance where required.

As I previously mentioned the skills that I have gained through this apprenticeship have been exponentially growing throughout. the project management and planning knowledge from the university degree has provided insight into better ways of working and help me to question company process to improve the outlook for the future. Overall a huge amount of what I learn in university goes towards helping me in my day to day activites.

There are plenty of events to attend and social events are set up within working groups in the business. There are sports teams, however I can no longer play sports so I do not take part. There is meditation, self help and other activities set up for those who don't play sports, so overall there is loads of things to do extra-curricular wise.

Yes

I believe this apprenticeship will set my career up for the rest of my life, as you gain a huge insight to the whole business, and learn many, many skills throughout and different life experiences you would not get at university, for example being paid and working, whilst getting paid to complete a degree is a huge responsibility, however once you come through this, your personal organisation and time management skills will have increased massively and help in the future in stressful situations.

Be honest in your interview, don't over speak anyone, let people voice their opinions and then calmly (if you disagree) state why you disagree and provide your opinion. Don't let the workload overwhelm you keep people informed regularly on how you are getting on, as things can be put in place to help if they aren't. Good luck applying to this huge business, once your foot is in the door, your world becomes a lot larger and options for the future have increased hugely.