Rating

5.9/10
  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
  • Usual paint technician role, often end up doing the bad jobs such as sweeping up, oven maintenance, painting walls etc. Is a Production shop so very hard to get into the oven on a day as the shop is all about numbers out of the door, hard to get experience.

    6/10

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
  • I learnt to prep and paint and polish at my current workplace, but it was not easy I had to put a lot of work in to get where I am now, and lacked a lot of support. Proper action plan was not in place at work. However, the training I received at Thatcham Research was 10/10 I could not praise them anymore, they are the reason I am where I am today and I couldn’t be more grateful. If it wasn’t for Thatcham this rating would be majorly lower.

    7/10

  • 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
  • I enjoyed my training away for the 2 week blocks very much and miss those days a lot, for the first year Ioved my job but after that it started to sway, now a days I have more stress than I do enjoyment, and it really isn’t a place I want to be.

    4/10

  • 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
  • again, Thatcham was great and very well organised, however the workplace isn’t anything as such, I myself don’t know what the next target is, and my boss doesn’t either, very unsupportive and if it wasn’t for my thick skin and motivation I’d of fallen way off track.

    4/10

  • 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
  • Very very little, they are the first to jump on and criticise and shout about the first mistake you make, yet you can do a million favours and work ridiculous hours overtime and still get no praise, no plans or targets through the apprenticeship at all, not a motivating concept.

    2/10

  • 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
  • Thatcham have been great, the assessor that came out to my workplace to grade me was always fighting my corner for me trying to get me more experience, and lead me away from doing the duties where I am learning nothing, the training at Thatcham itself was always very structured and well organised, and a very friendly bunch, they couldn’t do their job any better.

    10/10

  • 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
  • They have a much better understanding and knowledge than most of the peers at work that I have to learn from in the workplace, they explain why things happen and why not to do things rather than just been told don’t do it, they also taught great management skills in the way of constructive criticism without putting you down.

    10/10

  • 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
  • Not that I know of, everyone’s private life is very close and people are quick to leave when their shift is over, many people who have come to join the workplace have said how different it is to everywhere else that they have worked at before this current workplace.

    4/10

  • 9a. Would you recommend Direct Line to a friend?
  • No


  • 9b. Why?
  • I have had to have thick skin through my apprenticeship and felt like I was an easy target a lot of the time, I received no support, no encouragement and no praise, a lot of the time leaving work drained stressed and fed up, and only a few years in.


  • 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Direct Line?
  • The company likes you to know a lot about it, you need to be motivated and a good team member, you also need to be a hard worker and make sure you show initiative by sweeping up etc when there is nothing else to do, show you are keen and you are wanting progression.


Details

Level 3 Apprenticeship

Yorkshire & The Humber

February 2019


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