Project Management Higher Apprentice Review

My role is in Project Management. I have 4 month placements in which I get an oversight of the team and what they do; assist with work; attend meetings and also get my own work to do. For example, in my last placement, I had my own small Project to run with, with the support from an Operations Engineer.

Although I have only been here 4 months, I have learnt and developed many skills already. In my last placement, I developed stakeholder management; risk and issue management and leadership skills whilst running with my own Project. I also developed my team work and drive for results whilst supporting the team.

I really enjoy my programme. I really enjoyed my last placement but also think its good that we move every 4 months to get a good exposure of different aspects of the business. I have enjoyed the work I have done so far. I also enjoy that we get the chance to do 'stretch' activities as part of the Apprenticeship. These are non academic activities that are there to stretch our competencies.

I think overall it is well organised. As mentioned before, I like how we move round every 4 months and so far I have had 2 completely different placements. However I think there could be improvements as the business as a whole can be a little slow on organisation at times.

We receive plenty of support from our supplier. Firstly, we have support form the early careers team who we see regularly; we have a disclipline manager who we see monthly to see how our placements are going; we have our placement managers who are there for support throughout the placement; and we also have a skills coach who has just started. I feel like I can email/meet with any of these teams/people for extra support of needed. We also have wellbeing groups for extra support.

Again, we receive enough support form our training provider, Furness College. We have two tutors and a dedicated mentor who we can go to with issues. We can speak to and/or email our tutors if we need extra support with assignments or the Degree in general. We also have group discussions every term where we can raise any feedback/issues.

I feel like it really helps. During the qualification so far, we have learned about certain Project Management terms and tools which have been relevant to my placements. This has helped as gives a better understanding as to why certain things are done the way they are. Being in the role has also helped with the qualification as again, gives a better understanding.

Yes lots. There are stretch activities as mentioned before. One of the is called the ALLright project, which is a mental wellbeing related. There are many events put on by this Project, for example sporting events; meditation; yoga; and man more. There is also a sporting calendar which shows outside sporting events which you can join.

Yes

I would recommend BAE Systems. I would also recommend the company for a Degree Apprenticeship as it is an interesting role which challenges and pushes your competencies; gives you independence to do your own work; has good social aspects; you are well supported in your role and everyone in general are really helpful.

The first advice I would give is to read the information on the careers website and research further to make sure it is right for you. Also, read up on the company. I would speak to others that are in the company if you can, to see what they think.