Customer Service Engineer Review

The first year of the apprenticeship is spent at college learning key skills, for the following three years you will attend college once a week while spending the rest of the week out in the field with a mentor or lone working. A typical day would involve firstly collecting parts from your designated collection point and then making your way to the specified hospital. Once on-site you will communicate with the customer regarding the fault/issue and with all the information you would then carryout the job, maintaining, fault finding & replacing parts where necessary. On completion of the job you'd again communicate with the customer to relay the work you've just carried out, there will also be an online service report to complete detailing specifics of the job carried out including parts used, time spent on-site and time spent travelling to and from site. Then if required, return to your designated collection point to return any unused or fixable parts.

One of the key skills developed over my time as an apprentice is how to effectively communicate with all different types of customers, this development includes a very effective training course carried out by an external training provider which involved role play of typical scenarios we would experience on a day to day basis. I have also been on multiple internal product training courses both in Germany and America which have given me confidence and knowledge to carryout the job role effectively and efficiently. Personally I have gained a great amount of confidence in myself and my ability partly down to the fantastic support provided by the company but specifically the colleagues directly involved in my development.

I greatly enjoyed my personal apprenticeship programme as I got to experience things that I otherwise wouldn't have, for example travelling to Germany and America on my own to carry out training courses specified to me and my future within the company. The team/colleagues around me have always been supportive not only in day to day work but also with any personal progressions or ideas I have put forward. The workload regarding college work, day to day work, apprenticeship progression, NVQ work and more can seem daunting at times but again with the backing of the company and colleagues its all manageable and exciting.

The apprenticeship programme is clearly structured from the beginning, highlighting the specific steps to be taken each year of the apprenticeship. On top of that we would meet once a month with our line manager & mentor to discuss progression, key jobs carried out, any issues with college/NVQ work, future training requirements and any questions or personal issue's we may have. When trying to complete college work, NVQ work and work on a day to day basis it can be very strenuous but with the support from my manager I was given all the time needed to complete any work.

I can't fault the support provided throughout my entire apprenticeship programme from whoever I required it from, the willingness to help and provide guidance to myself and other apprentices has been outstanding and a key factor in my development not only in the company but on a personal level. Specifically the mentors I have had the pleasure of working with have always been extremely supportive and understanding of any issues I may be experiencing. The guidance provided from such highly trained, experienced engineers has been pivotal to my progression in the job role.

As my apprenticeship role was new to everybody involved, I don't believe the training provider whether it was Trafford College or the original NVQ tutor/Advisor were best suited to guide and support me towards my qualifications. Having said that my manager, mentor and other colleagues were excellent in providing support and guidance with any problems I encountered. Myself and the other apprentice, then in the final year changed NVQ training provider to a company called STEGTA who gave excellent and always willing support/guidance for any issue relating to achieving our qualifications. As a result of their general attitude and excellent support the company have decided to recruit the STEGTA as the sole training provider in the future which I know from my personal experience with them will be a perfectly suited addition to the apprenticeship programme.

To be honest, as the apprenticeship role is based in a very specialised field I have only learnt the basic engineering requirements and don't feel like I have often put theory into practice when it comes to what I learnt at college compared to my day to day role. Due to how specialised the work is most of the knowledge gained and used in my day to day role has come from internal product training carried out in specialised training centres in Germany and America. Having said that, there are aspects of the training I received which have definitely helped me towards successfully completing my apprenticeship and will always be useful in the future.

As we are all field based engineers/apprentices we often don't always see each other in our day to day working lives, so we organise 2 social events a year. We will generally have a summer social event and a winter social event, organised by a member of the team. These events in the past have included activities such as axe throwing or mini golf, followed by a meal payed for by the company. There are many company activities to get involved in and voluntary initiatives to take part in throughout and after the apprenticeship.

Yes

I would always and have already recommended Siemens Healthineers to friends and family as the apprenticeship role is like no other apprenticeship out there. The experiences I've had throughout my time as an apprentice with Siemens Healthineers such as training abroad in America/Germany or working along side highly skilled engineers on a day to day basis have helped shaped me into the person I am today. The support and guidance throughout and after the apprenticeship has been exceptional, your opinion is always heard and you're made to feel like a valued part of the team from day one.

It can be daunting applying for such a highly specialised apprenticeship role if you've had no prior engineering background but don't let that put you off, in fact a major aspect of the job is customer care related and you will be provided with the training required to become a highly skilled engineer. In your interview when asked questions on how you would react to certain scenarios, always reply with an explanation on a similar experience you've encountered in the past. Your past experience doesn't have to be engineering related, it's more down to your problem solving skills and how you react in high pressure situations. On the assessment day you'll be required to do tasks on your own as well as part of a team, which gives you an excellent opportunity to showcase how your lone working ability but also perhaps more importantly how well you work as a member of a team.