Apprentice Maintenance Technician Review

As an Apprentice Maintenance Technician, my role is to work alongside other Technicians to learn and gain a greater understanding of the routine and non-routine maintenance carried out on the various packaging/inspection equipment as well as the equipment used in the actual manufacture of the pharmaceutical products. During our apprenticeship, we are known as 'multi-skilled' meaning we carry out mechanical, electrical and instrumentation work, accompanied by a qualified Technician.

Yes. I have developed my toolmaking skills greatly, becoming familiar with milling, turning and drilling as well as TIG/MIG welding as a result of my time at college; and how to use these safely. These skills often come in very handy. I have also gained a good understanding in various electrical principles. Working in a 'sterile' environment was also a new concept to me, a comes with its own skills and challeneges.

I enjoy the program very much. As apprentices, we get many opportunities for development programs such as Resilience training in the Lake District and Team Building in Wales. We are very lucky that GSK funds these programs as part of the Apprentice Program as it gives us the opportunity to network with Apprentices from the other GSK sites both Nationally and Internationally.

Overall, I think that the GSK apprenticeship program is very well organized. From my experience, the recruitment process although rigorous, was efficient and well structured. As an Engineering Apprentice, I believe we are given a healthy workload and encouraged to speak up and ask for help which is always on hand.

By the bucket load. As I stated previously, we are encouraged to speak up with any queries- work related or other- and this creates a healthy atmosphere I believe. Regular check-ins with our manager allows for feedback and helps to build a healthy relationship. In regards to college work, we are given plenty of support and told that getting our qualifications is just as, if not more important than work tasks.

As mentioned above, we are given plenty of support, and encouraged to take 'study days' off work if our college work is mounting up. At college, the Tutors encourage us to come into college during half term when we would normally be off. This could be to get ahead on the work or just to go over some previous feedback towards our qualificiaitons.

I feel that the skills and knowledge we gain from our training provider is very valuable and relevant to the various work activities we carry out at GSK. Learning about the electrical principles as well as mechanical principles makes us more effective Maintenance Technicians and so I feel the course is well-suited to our job role.

As mentioned previously we have had various outward-bound activities throughout the years of the apprenticeship where we have been able to network with other apprentices. On a smaller scale, our site apprentices often organize social events from gokarting to nights-out and are encouraged to attend when we can in order to gain a better understanding on how other apprentices in the company work.

Yes

I would certainly recommend working at GSK to a friend and have done several times previously. GSK is a very good place to work and has a very effective Apprentice program which gets the most out of its apprentices while also providing us with an interesting and diverse work program. As it should be in all industry, you get out what you put in.

The apprenticeship program is highly regarded, and therefore has a very competitive application process. It is important to come across as the authentic true version of yourself as this is what you will be assessed on- your character. In my local area, there are not many other large industries such as GSK, and so standing out from the crowd by being part of an effective team early on in live will definitely help your chances.