Commercial Degree Apprenticeship Review

I rotate placements every 6 months, however I am currently working with the BE Team within Rolls-Royce. This team works directly with the Sales Directors to generate financial evaluations for campaigns to allow the Sales Directors to sell our products and services to Customers. In this team, you complete work to analyse the financial impact of any particular campaign, whilst working with a large variety of people. These people include the Engineering Project Teams, Commercial Contracting, Marketing and many more. Other placements I have worked in include the Europe Customer Regional Team (Europe CRT) and Risk and Revenue Sharing Partners. The Europe CRT allowed me to work on commercial dispute directly with Customers and solve problems, whilst the RRSPs Team allowed me to work directly with our Partners and their Representatives to generate new processes for the organisation.

I have learnt many skills and have also developed many. These include: - Communication with both Internal and External Customers - Leadership through leading STEM Teams and projects within my placements - Financial capability through completing business evaluations and assessing the financial impact - Excel skills. These are key when working in any organisation, but I have become a lot more confident and capable in this area - Team work and collaboration through working with such large and senior teams

I really do enjoy my job. Although it is difficult to manage a full-time job, a degree and maintaining a social life with friends and family, it is so rewarding. Being 19 and working directly with senior Sales Directors and Airlines and having the responsibility of any other employee at RR, you feel as if the work you are doing is really making a difference. Each team I have worked in have exceeded my expectations. I was always nervous to join a new team as I didn't want to feel as if I were a burden, however everyone is keen for Apprentices as they understand they are the future of the organisation.

We have an Apprentice Development Leader, a Steering Group a Mentor and a Line Manager meaning there is plenty of support if required. We have 8 weekly reviews with our ADLs to assess progress and look for areas of improvement to achieve as highly as we can. We also have Mentor and Line Manager meetings which we organise to seek further guidance with someone directly in the business area. I would say often organisation is slightly weak it regard to having difficult questions answered, for example, when being placed on furlough I was told many different things, however this is understandable with the unknown situation. We have 6 month rotations, meaning we gain experience is many different business areas.

As mentioned previously, we have an Apprentice Development Leader, a Steering Group, a Mentor and a Line Manager, all of which are put in place to help with our progress on the scheme. I believe that they truly do have my success and best intentions at heart which is great because I do feel as if I were to have any problems or things which may be difficult to discuss, they would all be willing to listen and help me.

For my Apprenticeship, we attend University two days a month. To complete a degree and receive a high level of support in two days a month is difficult, however we all understood this challenge when we join the Apprenticeship. The degree course is tailored to our Apprenticeship which is great as it means that we are constantly completing work towards our End Point Assessment. I would say over the COVID-19 time, delivery has been limited and we have had to teach ourselves, but overall, it is usually quite strong.

In our training, we have to provide evidence of meeting CMDA Standards. This means we are constantly working towards becoming a strong leader and a stronger member of the organisation. Most assignments also link into the organisation, meaning we are constantly learning and developing our understanding our RR, meaning that things we have learnt in our degree can be put into practice or we can see in the organisation, which is not typical for a normal degree student.

Yes, there are a lot of sports groups at our Gym and Leisure Centre. We also have an onsite welfare centre, which is like a pub/restaurant so often people go after work or go for a meal at lunch time. Being an Apprentice, there is also an opportunity to be a part of the AGA, which is an Apprentice group which hold different events, such as boat parties and bowling. STEM is also another key part of being a RR Apprentice.

Yes

I feel as if I have grown as an individual both professionally and personally whilst working at RR. I have become more confident in my ability and more confident in talking to large groups of people. I have also had so many incredible opportunities and feel as if I am truly part of the organisation as a full-time employee, rather than an Apprentice there for extra resource. Although a Degree Apprenticeship is challenging, the experience I am getting is worth it.

Sell yourself - even if things seem small to you, talk about them. Everyone applying for RR will be academically capable, it comes down to what you can offer as a person. In the Assessment Days, don't panic. You spend a lot of time waiting and talking to other people which may make you feel as if they are better than you, but it is how you perform, not how they perform. Try to get as much experience in leading and team work, whether this is work experience or leading a sports team, as this makes you stand out.