Craft Apprentice Review

My role is an electrical maintenance apprentice. This will involve testing and maintaining electrical systems. You will learn how to make support systems for the electrical circuits as well as wire in the tasks that you have. On a day to day basis, you will carry on with tasks that you have and continue through them at your own speed. One day you could be cutting conduit for the support system and the next, wiring in the whole circuit.

I have learnt a lot of new skills since starting my apprenticeship. When starting the apprenticeship, you are not expected to know everything therefore throughout my time I have learnt what various electrical systems there are and how you would go about testing them. I have also learnt how to build different support systems for different electrical systems.

I enjoy the apprenticeship programme very much. This is a very good way to learn as you go and be hands on with your work. The apprenticeship programme is nicely structured to be able to guide you through all the skills that you will learn. The apprenticeship programme is also a very good way to meet new people and be integrated into the business gradually so it isn't daunting.

The apprenticeship programme is very well structured. For a 3 year electrical maintenance apprenticeship, you will spend 18 months in the skills academy gaining and understanding the skills that you will need for when you go out on site. After 18 months, you will then go out on site to complete the next stage of your training where you will learn how things work out on site and further your training from the skills academy. An end point assessment will be done to make sure that you have competently completed your training.

I can receive support from my employer whenever I am stuck and need some guidance. From my own experience, it has never been hard to gain support from my employer. Line managers will always make time to come and help when help is needed as they do not want you to struggle through. There are also several managers that you can go to in order to receive support.

The training provider is also good at giving support where it is needed. If there is extra support needed then they will always try and find a solution that is going to work. There are some difficult times like for instance covid-19 which meant that we couldn't speak face to face therefore there was extra help offered through google meet and whilst at work we were given some extra lessons in order to help work towards our qualification.

The qualification we are getting through our training provider means that we are able to understand some components or various systems better when we are in our roles at work. As part of the qualification, you have to do a health and safety topic which backs up the training you have within your role and makes you more vigilant when performing tasks within the role.

Yes. There are different activities that you can involve yourself in. There is a recreational society where you are able to use a gym, play sports on the sports fields and if you are not a sporty person then you can get involved in other activities such as representing the apprentices through the 3 A's or other activities such as the females in engineering challenge.

Yes

I think the company is a good company to work for. I have enjoyed my apprenticeship programme so far and am looking forward to the next step. Even if you aren't looking for an apprenticeship, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a job role as there is so much variety. Anything from business management to electricians, there is opportunity to change career paths as well whilst still staying within the business and you are well looked after by the employer.

I would say to be patient as the time it takes from applying to getting in the door can be quite long because of the security checks however it is worth the wait. I would also say to commit yourself to the apprenticeship once through the first stage because it is a very good employer to work for and you have so many opportunities to work your way through the business and gain skills and knowledge that you might not get elsewhere.