Hazards Experimentalist Review

I am a hazards experimentalist. My role involves testing in the lab, providing important safety data and reporting that data. I have the responsbilty of making sure all the equipment is in good working order and interact a lot with colleagues in the lab and with the assessors for advice on where to go next.

I have learnt how to work in a lab environment and learnt new lab skills. I have learnt how to use tools that before my apprenticeship I would never have even dreamed of using. I have also greatly improved my skills in communicating with others and my confidence has improved tremendously.

I have really enjoyed my programme as it has properly introduced me to the working world and what the working world (and my colleagues) expect from me. The support from people both in my placement and from the Apprenticeship managers has been amazing - they have made the programme unique and enjoyable.

It has been very well structured, from the college course, to the NVQ and to the work place training part of it too. From the beginning I've known what the plan is, what is expected of me, and when stuff has had to be done by. That has always been clearly set out.

I receive a lot of support from my employer. When I was still at college, I would have regular review meetings with the apprentice managers where we would talk about progress on my NVQ, Tech Qual and work placement and he would help with any issues that came out of that. I also had lots of support in my work place, particularly from my line manager.

I had support from my teachers at the college and I had reviews with my NVQ assessor every 6 weeks, plus a weekly 'lesson' at college specifically for NVQ so she could answer any of our questions whilst we were writing it up. This started in my final year of college and I found it very useful to do.

It's given me a good grounding in other scientific areas as my job role is quite specialised on so it was nice to have a look into other areas and lab work. I have a basis of understand - through college - on Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Statistical Analysis. It was good to have that.

Yes, the community team often run site wide events such as; Bowling, Quiz Nights, Foot Golf etc in order to keep the site in touch with each other. There is also a walking club where whilst networking with colleagues you may not normally see, we also raise money for charity at the same time depending on how many steps we do.

Yes

It is a good company to work for, and because it is such a big company you get a lot of experiences you might not have normally had. For example, I have been on 2 trips to a site in Switzerland (through my department), I've visited a site near Windsor and have also been on an Outward Bounds trip (as part of the apprenticeship programme)

Answer the questions honestly, be enthusiastic in your interview, admit when you don't know the answer to something. Make sure you include EVERYTHING in your CV - any hobbies you have - no matter how 'strange' people might think they are, and what your interests are and what you want from the apprenticeship.