Transport Planning Apprentice Review

I help to create transport planning and road safety reports, enter data into spreadsheets and reports, create and edit AutoCAD drawings . Attend site visits every few weeks or so to do traffic counts/ surveys and safety inspections of pieces of road. As you don't have enough experience/ knowledge to begin with there is a lot of simple entering numbers into spreadsheets/ reports and formatting reports. After a while you will start to be given more and more advanced tasks to do.

I have learnt how to use AutoCAD to create professional drawings for clients. I have learnt how to use software to collect collision data and filter it in order to inform safety reports. I have learned how to be safe on site, what to look out for and safety equipment needed for different situations.

It can be quite slow at times because you don't have the experience to be able to do much, but after a while you will start to be given more interesting things to do that will challenge you more. There is a very good company culture and your colleagues are very friendly and helpful. There are many social events which are good fun.

You will get all the training you need before you do anything and will be given all the support you need to do your studies and your job. You are given a 'buddy' who will help you get settled in and tell you anything you need to know, as well as answer any questions you may have working for the company. There is a 4 week and 4 month catch up with your manager where they will go through how you are getting on and targets for you to do so that you are always progressing and learning. Every term you will go to college in Leeds for two weeks to do your in class learning, where you will do the academic part of the apprenticeship.

You will have catch-ups with your manager often and they are always helpful if you have a problem or question. HR are also there to email/ call if you have anything that you feel you cant tell your manger, although I haven't had to do this myself. It does help having a mentor as well, guiding you through your first few weeks while you find your feet at your company and in the office. There are many channels of support for anything you may need help with, even stuff that doesn't relate to work. The whole time you will be told to not be afraid to ask questions, as everyone is there to help you.

For the training provider as well you are able to ask them anything, from your tutor or lecturer as well as your course leader from the college. It is slightly harder though, only because you are not there physically with the college very often so you don't have that face to face contact all the time. They are very helpful though if you do email or call them for help.

So far, I am only gaining a general knowledge of transport planning from my training provider. The qualification hasn't really helped me in my job as I haven't done anything relating to my college work in my job yet. However, I can see that I will be learning more later on in the course that will help with my job, like modelling.

There are a few social events to go to, like Christmas parties and gatherings for other events. There are a lot of sports teams to get involved with as well, including football and badminton. There are also some professional events that you can attend in order to network with other people in the industry, which the company will pay for.

Yes

The people at the company are friendly and the company generally treats you quite well. Hours are relatively flexible as you can arrive at work anytime up until 9:30 as long as you do your contracted hours for the day. The company will pay for all of your expenses including food and accommodation, even though the expenses process is a bit outdated and can be a pain. It must be a good place to build a career as there are many people who have worked for the company for over 20-30 years.

I applied online and had to do a maths test, it wasn't too hard though, so as long as you passed maths GCSE you should be fine. For the interview, just be yourself and answer as honestly as you can. You don't need any experience to get this apprenticeship, just be a hard worker and have a bit of an interest in transport planning. You will have to be patient at the start because there is a lot of mandatory training that you have to do, this is just online presentations, videos and quizzes that you have to get through to get familiar with all the systems of the company so that you know the processes, even though some of the training does seem unnecessary.