Senior Network Technician Review

My day to day role is a catchment supervisor of the foul and storm sewer networks, this involves working with direct staff who carry out planned maintenance and checks as well as contractors who deal with all reactive work such as blockages and flooding's being reported by customers, one of the main purposes is to promote capital investment in areas in which it is needed by recording incidents accordingly and accurately

I believe I already had fairly good communication skills but believe I have developed this skill greatly by having to have awkward conversations regarding costs with contractors, also I have become much more independent carrying out this role by having to make tough decisions on my own due to being given lots of responsibility.

I feel very lucky to have gained this opportunity as it is a good framework with a large company providing two qualifications being a HNC in Construction and the built environment and an NVQ in utilities network management, as well as this the pay for an apprenticeship is very reasonable.

There has been issues with the organisation as I didn't have an assessor for my NVQ throughout the first year meaning I was slightly behind where I should have been, the training provider EEF wasn't very impressive due to the apprenticeship induction not being very useful / time efficient.

The level of support I receive is very good from both my manager and my colleagues who are willing to help and assist me whenever required. I have found this very helpful as using long serving colleagues expertise has allowed me to gain knowledge myself fairly quickly helping with my development.

The HNC offers a good level of support but the way in which the framework of the course has changed seems a bit ridiculous. The level of support for the NVQ is very good as I have a one to one meeting my with assessor every six weeks who is very helpful.

The qualification in construction and the built environment isn't very relative to my day to day role, most of the course entails activities that a builder or construction company would be undertaking rather than the network operations of a waste water company, however some parts are relative such as primary and secondary services but this is only a small part of the course.

Yes, there is an apprentice football team which supports charities such as water aid, as well as there being Christmas parties both for local teams as well as apprentices to meet up as the company is large and the apprentices are spread out over the west midlands so offers everyone a good chance to meet and catch up.

Yes

I believe Severn Trent is a very good place to work as the apprentice / graduate programme is very good overall offering people a fair salary whilst studying a qualification. As well as this there are lots of benefits such as a good pension scheme, good amount of holiday and a friendly working environment.

Consider what skills you already have and really show off how you could use them for the company as well as talking about skills which you don't currently have but would be able to develop by working at severn trent and then how you could use them to benefit the company.