Engineering Technician Review

The company I have my apprenticeship with is so large, that it has many different departments that I can go into. I am on job rotation so I change roles about twice a year. My first role is in a calibration lab where I calibrate equipment to ensure they meet specification and standards of the company. I also report on any problems with the kit to allow quality to perform investigations. My next role will be in the production line helping to create batches of tablets. 1 star off for the paperwork because I feel I am a more practical person.

Gained confidence communicating with others and making connections with people. Learned the importance of trust and that my role is just as important as anybody else in the company, because we work as a team. I have developed my knowledge dramatically through the work at college and the additional courses on offer from GSK itself. 1 star off for some teachers at the college but that depends where you go to college.

I have enjoyed mostly making new friends with not only apprentices at GSK but also those at my college from other apprenticeships. I have thoroughly enjoyed working here so far and I feel that this is because I have put a real effort into my work and have also been rewarded and acknowledged by the team for the work I am putting in. 1 star lost as work load at college is not very spread out over the time so workload can be tricky.

I feel that the structure of the program is good as it is tailored to the individual provided that the line manager is told early enough about what you want to do. I enjoy the rotation plans as I get to train other apprentices in the company about the current role I am in so they can take over from me when I rotate. 2 stars lost as I felt that there was little to no information about the actual role I would be in after getting told I had the job.

I have always felt that I had support from my employer because I drive a long way to get to work, they are always conscious of the fact that I have a long distance to travel and are flexible with the times that I do my hours so I can avoid traffic a bit. In terms of work I have always got people around to ask for help as they never expect you to know everything. With college I have asked for help understanding something from work colleges which is good just in case. Work also allows me to go into college when I have a lot of assignments so long as I have asked.

I have a decent amount of support from my college as they allow me to go in and ask questions sometimes even on days when I'm not meant to be there. My training centre gives a lot of support packs that really help with the write ups of my practical assessments. 2 stars lost for poor explanations of things in maths and most of my assignments being due on the same day causing huge workloads.

I feel that I understand a lot more about the electronics of the equipment that I am testing and what I can and can't do. I have also developed my soldering skills more to help when I sometimes maintain circuit boards. I understand more about logic and that will help me when I rotate into automation. 1 star lost as my current role doesn't really relate to college at the moment but we will see when I rotate to a new department.

There are nights out for apprentices and IPS and a boat party in the summer. There are some sports teams like football to join and a social club that do bar sports. The first year apprentices from around the world do an outward bound trip where we do rock climbing and things like that. There are induction days where we introduce new people to GSK and advertise the company to try and bring in new people.

Yes

I would because it is a massive company full of opportunities that you make your own. This helps a lot with future job prospects as well because it looks impressive on a CV. The company has good support and a lot of job role choices suited for every person's needs. I have had a lot of fun so far at GSK.

Apply early to ensure you have a better chance of being spotted but it is never too late to apply. I applied on the final day of submissions and still got the job. Never underestimate your chances and have a can do attitude. GSK would accept 20 people at once if they felt they were all right for the job, so just be yourself and if you fit with the company's values then good, if not there are many different opportunities out there and use the lessons of GSKs application as a learning curve to get in somewhere else or reapply next year!