Apprentice Civil Engineer Review

My day to day timetable constantly changes. My time is spent between the office and site. On site I get to complete a mixture of monitoring of sub contractors, setting out and generally having the the flexibility to explore different parts of site and see what’s going on. This enables me to see the breath of engineering taking place on my site. I also get the opportunity to shadow senior colleagues and learn from their expertise.

By managing sub contractors I’ve learnt important communication skills. This has been through making sure I communicate the right message to the relevant people when there’s a problem. I’ve developed my confidence a lot as I can see my colleagues believe in me and value my input.

I really like the structure of my programme. By having a block realise of college, I have the right amount of time to complete college assignments. This then means while I’m site I’m able to get involved in as much as possible and built on the knowledge I learnt in college.

The organisation of my block realise in college and my site placement is perfect. Any queries I have about college dates/ assignments, I know the right person to go to. When I started my apprenticeship I was given the right guidance of what the next few years hold for my professional and educational development.

As an employer, BAM Nuttall are very supportive in your professional development. Any enquires I have about courses that I would like to join, the early careers team are happy to help. BAM also make sure that their employees are equipped with everything they need to do well at their job, whether that be accommodation, IT and travel.

While on our block realise of college, Leeds College of Building made sure we knew the units that we were covering in college. They also make sure we knew who we had to communicate our enquires to. They provided us with lots of resources for extra research reading. They make sure we knew what was expected from us when we returned to site.

I really liked that I started my apprenticeship with a block realise of college. This enabled me to get a better understanding of what civil engineering is and what is expected of civil engineers whilst on site. The tutors in college were very helpful when introducing us to what our site placement would entail.

I have had to the opportunity to attend some professional networking events with my site team. They were more than happy to introduce me to SLT. When SLT/Client have visited my site, I have had the chance to meet with them and go along with them on their site visits.

Yes

BAM really care about your development. They recognise your enthusiasm and provide you with every opportunity to develop in your professional and academic development. Everyone that I work with from BAM have the same encouraging ethos which motivates and inspires a young apprentice like myself. I really like meeting senior members of staff that started on apprenticeships too!

My main advice to someone applying to BAM would be to be yourself and relax. The application process is moulded to help you show your best self. Everyone I met during the application process was very friendly and encouraging. Enjoy applying and attending the interviews, it’s a great opportunity to get insight to the business from the start.