Engineering Apprentice Review

on a day to day basis, either for a night shift or a day shift, I arrive at work 20 minutes early. I am currently stationed on Baggage Systems, which looks after the north and south terminal baggage halls and their systems. but during your time at Gatwick you'll experience every section Gatwick has to offer, from my 3 years working at the airport i have visited each place and learnt the job from the technicians working there.

over my time at Gatwick airport I've learnt a huge range of different skills, along side developing the ones i had a base knowledge of prior to starting. because of the diverse range of engineering systems at Gatwick there is something for everybody to be good at. alongside being in the workspace you also have a well structured college course to provide the theoretical foundation for the skills you'll learn at work.

with all honesty I enjoy working at Gatwick, I've worked jobs before coming onboard the apprentice program and none have offered anywhere near the support, structure and care to their employees. the apprenticeship is very well structured, with an excellent manager and excellent supporting members from HR as well. I don't have a single complaint about the program

the structure of the engineering apprenticeship is excellent, its a 4 year course, the first year full time at college, the second college one day a week and 8 hours monday-friday (minus the college day) then the third and forth years being on shift work (day and night 12hr shifts) with one day of college a week as well. the college is east surrey in Redhill.

I receive a huge amount of support from work regarding the work space and college. the apprentice manager as well as most of the technicians do genuinely care about your development as an apprentice as most technicians at the airport were also, once an apprentice. the company also has a very good HR department who will be able to help you out with any issues not related to work as well. help will always be offered to those who ask basically.

at the moment i am working towards finishing my HNC and my NVQ, regarding both the college gives a good amount of support, not holding your hand which allows you to build initiative and independence which are very important skills. of course if you require that bit of extra help it will always be given.

my college course relates to my work very well, more often than not ill be looking at a system while a technician is talking me through it and recognise that I have learnt about this "type of controller" before for example. id say college helps me perform better at work as it gives me and solid foundation of knowledge that I can apply while I'm in work.

in normal times yes, while we are just recovering from the pandemic and coming out the other side of it the amount of events has naturally lowered or moved online. now we are on our way out it is ramping up once again, the outward bound program has begun again, which gives all apprentices the opportunity to have 5-7 days away and take part in team building activities such as rafting, camping, hiking, climbing etc! this year it is planned for wales in august. along side that you'll be doing lots of events with local schools and STEM to try to engage and interest younger people in to engineering.

Yes

when i joined Gatwick when i was 18, i was inexperienced when it came to engineering, id always taken an interest in how things work and id take things apart around the house to the despair of my parents. i wasn't massively academic either, i got through my GCSEs with Cs and a few Bs. so in terms of a normal job interview, i was very underqualified haha, but the apprenticeship scheme doesn't look for skills, or experience or qualifications, they look for good people. Because you can teach someone skills and knowledge, but you cant teach a person to be good. which in essence means, everyone has a fighting chance to get on board! I've been given a great opportunity through Gatwick, its enabled me to grow as a person, improve my people skills and develop a broad spectrum of knowledge due to the diverse work and people at the airport.

If you want to apply for the apprenticeship, the best thing you can do is show us how interested you are in engineering, you'll be contending with around 700+ other applicants for a course which takes on 4 people a year at most. i mean physically show us as well, if you've done something around the house, fixed your car, your bike, your kitchen tap? take a bunch of photos and show us how you did it. or you could tell us what made you interested in engineering, mine was playing with Lego when I was a kid and train spotting with my granddad when I was little, it doesn't need to be significant at all. just make yourself standout as much as possible.