Advanced Upholstery Upholsterer Review

Month long - 3 month long placements where you get to experience different areas of the business, the day to day structure depends on the department but usually consists of a morning meeting with your placement team where you get given things to do for the day, you then usually shadow an experienced employee or sometimes are set a project to work through this could be making something to solve a problem- protection for parts or leaving gifts or implementing or improving an existing system. Because of the variety of departments you meet people from all areas of the business.

I have learnt a considerable amount throughout the course of my apprenticeship, from how different systems work together to produce a product to how to upholster various items of furniture. My practical skills have been greatly improved through practice and instruction from some of the highly skilled associates. I have also developed many core skills such as making and giving presentations, communication within the workplace at all levels.

The programme has been vastly improved since the start of my apprenticeship. I really enjoyed the college course and learning about different materials and how they can be used to create a specific effect. Work is varied, some placements are in departments that are full of ex-apprentices, these are usually really good because they understand how the apprenticeship works and make the effort to invest the time in teaching you what you need to know, other departments don't take such care of apprentices and you can be left doing 'apprentice tasks' or having very little to do, when this is raised however this is usually easily fixed

The college course has changed several times throughout the course of my apprenticeship, this makes it very difficult to know what you're working towards. Work wise, it is fairly structured although the timetable sometimes changes, they also take into account your preferences, so if there's an area you would like a placement in they usually try to accommodate this

Support varies depending on the department you belong to, I had fantastic support throughout my apprenticeship in the latter half but this was after some management changes. Support is there it can just take some time to work out who you need to support you and what shape that takes, its important to say if your support isnt working.

The college is very well intentioned but the communication isn't always sound, with things getting missed between work and college, you and work and you and college. For my course the college often set lots of work which was irrelevant to the course as the course has changed over the time with the content not necessarily keeping up. The college are supportive but sometimes it isn't helpful

I have gained a good understanding of fabric and materials through my college course which is more 'extra knowledge' rather than required. Other than that the college course is more or less unrelated and we have had to create work projects in order to meet the course requirements

There are a few extra curricular activities but they don't tend to be very well advertised, there are a few sports and motor sport clubs and the occasional activity at a school such as information events and a green goblin go kart building project the local school. there are also sometimes extra curricular events through a department team.

Yes

Its a good company, if the friend is willing to work hard and is capable then it can be very rewarding, equally those who don't put in the effort can feel a bit left behind, you get out of the apprenticeship what you put in but its important to highlight areas that aren't so good as improvements to the program have been made since I started and the effects are showing.

Show willing and work hard, bring your outside interests to the interviews, if you do interesting things in your spare time, tell them about it, particularly if you can relate it to work, how you behave is just as important if not more so than your experience. They can teach you everything they need you to know but they don't need to teach you about attitude because they'll just get someone else