Advanced Engineering Apprentice Review

My current placement is Hawk Quality, in this role I am given issues that are raised by the customer and then I go and see the relevant people on the shop floor to gain more information on what the issue is, what aircraft it affects and also what action is being taken to resolve the issue.

I have done both in this placement. I have learnt lots of new things about the Hawk aircraft as I had never worked with it before and I have also developed a number of my existing skills. In particular my inter-personal skill because I have to meet and work with new people every day.

I thoroughly enjoy my apprenticeship programme. For both last year in the training school and my time so far on placements in the second year, I have learnt lots of new skills and improved others also. The opportunities available to me have been excellent and I feel privileged to have a place on my apprenticeship.

The programme is well organised and structured for the most part. The important elements of the apprenticeship such as the rotation between sections and placements are organised and communicated out to us in good time. In some areas the organisation is a little lacking in the way that we were assigned units and told what qualifications we are working towards

There is support offered from my employer in a number of different ways. The first of these is my assessor. They are on hand for us to voice any issues we may have. There are also union representatives and safeguarding officers that we can contact for support. We have regular reviews every 12 weeks where support is offered to us.

When working towards my qualification, there is an array of support on offer from my training providers. There are tutorial sessions every week where we can receive support on any of the assignments we have been set or topics we have covered in class and the assessors can be reached over email whenever we have any queries surrounding the qualifications.

The qualification that I am working towards helps me in my role because it provides a framework for me to learn new skill and gain an understand of how those skills relate to my job role. Being on placements, my job role changes throughout the apprenticeship yet the skills are developed and transferred between roles.

The extra-curricular or enrichment activities on offer in my apprenticeship are extensive and very varied. Opportunities such as a German exchange programme, The Princes Trust, Innovation Challenge and World Skills competitions are all on offer as well as social and sporting activities like work functions, nights out and apprentice football matches.

Yes

I would recommend BAE Systems to a friend, or indeed anyone because they are an excellent company to work for, and they are at the forefront of the engineering industry. They are one of the largest employers in the northwest and the opportunities the company can offer you should not be missed.

When applying to BAE systems, I would advise others to research the company and its products so that they are able to answer questions in the interview. Also, a project is required for the interview and I would recommend bring something they are well informed about and something that they can again answer questions on, such as the problems that arose when completing the project or what they would do differently if they were to do the project again.