Project Manager Review

I am Project management apprentice working on a project called Crossrail 2, currently I am working within the commercial and controls team which mainly deals with budgeting, some of the things I do on a regular basis is producing spreadsheets ensuring that consultants are not spending more than what they should be.

After successfully completing my APM exam and by the end of the apprenticeship scheme I will have gained a Level 4 diploma in Project Management having learned key skills, knowledge and behaviors such as stakeholder, risk, schedule, quality, resource and safety management, project scope, communication, team work, business case, project structure as well as many other key project management competencies.

I am really enjoying my programme at the moment, throughout the duration of the apprenticeship I move around to different placements within the company this can involve working in a variety of teams, such as engineers, construction managers, commercial team, this also allows for the opportunity to develop my networking skills.

My programme is well structured, we go college on a block basis, where we learn about general project management, this is very good as within our college lessons we meet different apprentices amongst different companies which helps develop networking skills as well as learning about the different things that people from other companies do.

We receive a lot of support from our employer, which falls into the structure of the apprenticeship, we have a line manager who deals with requests such as leave, but we also have a placement manager who helps us with our day-to-day development and ensuring that we are doing the best.

As mentioned before, we go to college this is where we learn everything we need to know in order to prepare for our end of year exams, also we are allocated time each week to work on coursework so that we are given dedicated time to ensure that it is getting done.

It helps a lot, as after returning from college, a lot of things start to make more sense which helps better our individual understanding of the organisation, and as a result when we return back to the working environment from college we are able to talk to our managers etc, and they will help us put what we have learnt into practice.

There are many events to get involved in, some groups that I am involved in is the mental health group, where we promote mental health within TfL, as mental health is a common illness within our society, and many people we may or may not know are suffering with it.

Yes

As an Apprentice at TfL I spend 6 months at a time in different areas of the business where project management is crucial, allowing me to gain a variety of training and experience whilst simultaneously attending college, formal training sessions and completing a portfolio of coursework including evidence of my informal training during my 6 month placements.

I think the best advice I could give to others, is to practice throughout the entire process, ensure that before you are applying you are confident, especially when it comes to the assessment centre, as this can seem very daunting but by being confident you are able to flourish throughout the whole day.