Contracting Apprentice Review

Initially I was shown around the overall business and to get an understanding of the rock to road process, this involved, quarry visits, time with distribution/internal sales/external sales, and then onto construction sites to see the material being laid. Following the material being laid, it was then into the office to spend time with the estimating team and also the surveying team. Approx. 2-3 months spent in each department. Settled into the commercial team, and the work involved, printing off enquiries and putting them onto bid registers/estimating software, and then started pricing my own projects.

Tarmac have put me through a lot of courses to develop both existing and new skills. Some of these involve, first aid training, driver awareness training, causeway training, NEC training. Further skills were then developed at the future leader course which were ran. Tarmac allowed me to learn from my own mistakes which helped massively.

The college work was not entirely relevant to the work that I was carrying out within the office and therefore I was no able to use much that I learnt in the work place. The Scotland team is a great team to work with, very small and communicate very well with one another. My expectations were met during the apprenticeship.

Induction was very well organised with the company - as mentioned above, was shown around the overall business and got to see offices in different regions etc. Tarmac fully supported me with my development and granted time off work to ensure college deadlines were met along with time off for exam study leave. Had a line manager that I could sit with and discuss any issues, these meetings were weekly.

Full support of my manager. He pushed me as much as possible to become further developed within the construction industry. The HR team support in every way that they possibly can. Personal development is support through means of a personal development plan, which is a discussion with the line manager and that determines what skills you need to further develop.

Working to gain my SVQ, I had a one to one tutor, and we met every 2-3 months over the 3 years. He encouraged me where required and always supported me throughout this time. The support was always there if required, which made the overall experience actually enjoyable and not like a choir.

As mentioned above, my course was not similar to my role within the business, therefore it was difficult to take information from college into my day to day role within Tarmac. There was only about 1 or 2 modules which were actually anywhere near relevant to my role within the organisation.

Tarmac encourage employees to get involved with the Institute of Asphalt technology. Once involved with this, there are social events / course / presentations every other week to attend. Company events include, apprenticeship of the year and future leadership courses where we could socialise with other apprentices from other areas of the business.

Yes

Great company to work for, and they want to further develop there employees as much as possible by giving them access to a vast amount of courses. Furthermore, the both the local and senior management team are very helpful and are always open to discuss any issues that someone may have.

The application process was relatively straight forward, and communication was always good. Interview was relatively formal in Bellshill, and the question were mainly scenario based. There was no assessment day within the interview process. On boarding process was seamless, approx. 2 days to complete inductions and be introduced to both office staff and staff on site.