Woodshop Apprentice Review

My role is to learn the process flows of the woodshop at Rolls Royce Motor Cars. I have to work as a team to create a high standard wood set for a Rolls Royce Motor Car with zero errors. As an apprentice, we learn everything, so I am able to make an entire wood set myself start to finish by the end of the three years.

I have learned alot, before starting work, I had very limited experience with wood and no experience with veneers at all. I feel as if I have become fairly knowledgeable within the wood industry and furniture industry. The college course is a furniture course which at first I wasnt interested in but after studying it, it has become of slight interest.

I absolutely love doing what I do, I wake up every morning with huge pride knowing I work for the most prestigious car company on the planet. There has so far not been a moment I have no enjoyed, my favourite had to be finishing the wood set with a coat of lacquer, but spraying has always been of high interest to me.

The program itself has a very good structure. Right from my first day I knew exactly what I was doing and where I was for the next three years. Each area has set targets that need to be fulfilled and then some personal targets are set too. It's just a shame that its not really acted upon by the staff on the shop floor and that the apprentice needs to really push for it for anything to happen.

Support is great, theres not been a moment that when I've needed anything, the company has provided. I did a college project at work and everything I needed was supplied for me upon request, I even had special training on software I needed to use to create my finished product.

Our training provider, Chichester College Group, was very hard working with us apprentices. They always pushed us for more and made sure that if we needed any help, that they were able to do so with the best of their ability. We often had 1 to 1's with the apprentice managers at college to go through anything we were unsure of or needed a bit of assistance.

The college course and work are not directly related, however the transferable skills mostly translate to teamwork and material knowledge rather than practical experience. The team work really pushes people to work with people they wouldn't normally work with and it's a great confidence boost to anyone in the environment.

There are a small number of social events in my department, but across the whole company there are lots of different events and clubs to be apart of. Within my department I have been working with a couple of people to arrange a more frequent team building exercise but how frequently it occurs is yet to be decided.

Yes

The whole working atmosphere at BMW Group is amazing, I really feel welcomed every day and the working conditions are purely outstanding. I do however wish the communications between the different levels of staff was a bit better due to issues not being raised, equipment and uniform not being ordered and having to chase managers up

I would say be yourself, it's a very open and accepting environment and no one will ever say something controversial. It's hard to get in, but if you apply yourself and work to the best of your abilities, there is no reason why they can refuse your application.