IM&T Higher Apprentice Review

During the apprenticeship, we move around different placements within the function. This means that we spend 3-6 months in a placement, learning and developing our skills before moving on to another placement. This means that we gain a breadth of knowledge across many different areas of IM&T and means that we learn a lot about the business which prepares us for when we come off the apprenticeship scheme.

Throughout the apprenticeship, you are not only learning new skills from your placements such as organisation and professional skills, there is also the opportunity to take part in stretch assignments. These are extra curricular assignments which allow individual development and are a great way to gain new skills and build on existing ones.

I very much enjoy the apprenticeship I am currently on. I like the fact that we are not stuck in one placement for the full apprenticeship and that we get the chance to move around the function and the business. We have a say in which placements we complete which makes the scheme more enjoyable.

At the beginning the programme definitely seemed very structured with having reviews in place and regular check ups with discipline and line managers to ensure progress however, there have been a few hiccups in recent months following an unexpected change to the programme which doesn't seem to be well planned.

An exceptional amount of support is provided by the early careers department and across the business as a whole. The early careers team makes it known that they are always there to offer support and I have witnessed many of my colleagues finding them easy to talk too about difficult situations and finding comfort and support.

The University offers a lot of support. Many of the tutors offer out of hours support through emails which is handy as we are not close to the university and only attend one day a week. During the sessions the university tutors are always there to lend a helping hand if you need it.

So far, the qualification has only had 1 section which has been relevant to our role as IM&T apprentices. The other sections however, are still very enjoyable and provide an excellent learning forum however, I am finding that very few relate back to my day to day job. I do like learning different things though.

Stretch activities are the main way of being involved in extracurricular events. These range from events such as fundraisers to bake sales to running primary school clubs. they are a great way to step out from your every day role and grow and experience and learn more. I have had a great experience with them.

Yes

It is a great place to work and offers many benefits such as flexible working, annual leave and a great pension and shares scheme. There is always opportunities to change role if you feel you cannot progress any further in your current position and everyone is very friendly that I have worked with.

Don't worry too much if you aren't sure which scheme to apply for. There are always opportunities to complete placements in other functions around the business so don't worry about being stuck in a function you aren't sure about. Definitely apply it is an excellent place to work.