Project Manager Review

I work with various teams to ensure that the bid information is updated correctly on our internal system to support future forecasts and recording of bids. I also support the continuous improvement of the team I work in by creating process instructions for how to use new toolsets to give everyone a better idea of their functionality.

Over the last 6 months since changing placements, I have mostly been working on developing existing skills as there hasn't been an opportunity to develop new ones. Primarily I have been improving my stakeholder management and technical skills in relation to new toolsets to support the continuous improvement of the team.

I enjoy the placement changes, especially because the work that is undertaken in the company is varied, so it gives you a change to see different elements of the business you wouldn't have the opportunity to if you were in a full-time role. The academic side of it has been erratic, so this is less enjoyable, but it has improved over the past year.

The programme structure has improved, however there is a lot of discrepancies between not only the different business areas, but also the different year groups due to the level of change happened throughout each year. This makes it difficult to support each other because there is a lack of understanding of the differences, which reflects on placements as well as managers struggle to understand why we have different commitments.

I receive some support, however compared to others it does not seem to be the same, despite needing comparable things. There seems to be an unbalanced level of opportunities which is improving the closer the scheme is managed, however it is still apparent. I think in a few years, this imbalance should rectify itself with the management in place to monitor it.

The support I have received this year has been really good, our tutor for dissertation has been working closely with us and is passionate about helping is. This is a vast improvement on a few years ago when we had to demand basic levels of support so it has completed changed in the last year for the better.

I think there are some elements of the qualification that help, in terms of understanding the theory, however there is a limited link between the theory and the working practice which makes it less useful. Overall I think the qualification helps to justify certain perspectives, but I learn more from practicing in my role than I do from the theory.

There are some activities which are available, but they're not very well advertised making it hard to get involved in them. Especially in regards to networking events as these are often only promoted last minute and that leads to limited commitment from early careers due to already having other work to do.

Yes

At the moment there is a lot of change going on in the company, so I would be cautious about recommending the company. But I feel overall it is a good company for young people to start in, it pays well and supports early careers programmes well, therefore it should be recommended to people.

Read through the online information and when going through the CV application utilise the key phrases used on both the webpage and the application questions. Don't think too much about what experience you currently have, because the point of the apprenticeship/ graduate schemes is to provide you with the training, so its less about your skills and more about your potential.