Apprentice Review

The first 7 months involve learning basics in a classroom environment. Once at depot my day to day role can vary greatly. I can be working nights and weekends. The actual work itself involves either maintaining the railway by replacing small defective parts, or larger work such as replacing a whole crossing or switch

I have learnt how to work more effective within a team. Big jobs can involve many people and they get done much quicker and much more efficiently if one person makes the decisions and if everyone knows the job and their roles. I have learnt many other skills such as leadership, listening and general hand tool skills.

I enjoy the fact that every day is different. From working days in the office to working nights out on the railway. Jobs can be relatively straight forward to challenging. Sometimes we will have to find solutions to unexpected problems. All this variety leads to an all round enjoyable experience.

Network Rail invest a lot into their apprentices and as a result they want to keep their apprentices and ultimately they want them to progress to higher roles. The apprenticeship is 3 years long and throughout the three years I will have placement with various different departments and complete many training modules to help me in my railway career. I feel very valued by Network Rail.

The programme is very well structured. The plan for the first 7 months is set out much like a school timetable. After the first 7 months you are given dates for when the training modules take place. You are given a training manual with essays to complete and the date they must be completed.

The first 7 months Babcock provide the training. Apprentices live on site and are provided with food and accommodation free of charge. There is a lot of support in learning and many of the tutors are more than willing to provide extra support if needing. Afterwards support is given by network rail staff at Sultan.

With all the training that I have received with the additional weeks away completing actual training courses, I fee; that the training provider has performed extremely well. They have made sure that what I have been sent on (training courses) are relevant to my job rather than being a throw-away day off work.

For my role, I do not complete any extra-curricular activities such as social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events. I have been invited to attend an apprenticeship meet and greet with potential new starts with the course however I was unable to attend due to being away on training.

Yes

Network Rail is an employer which treats each person as an valued member rather than just another clog in the machine or another number in the machine. They have provided me with extensive training to make sure I am competent within my role before allowing me to complete a task unsupervised

Be yourself and do not panic if you are unsuccessful in your first attempt. I was original pushed back and kept on the 'reserve' list and was (on my first attempt) unsuccessful. Two months later, I received a call saying 'we liked you so much, we want to bring you around for a second interview and move your original interview over'. Sometimes its about keep going until you are successful.