Apprentice Civil Engineer Review

My role is an apprentice civil engineer. My job on a day-to-day basis is dependent on the placement I am on. During my apprenticeship, I have a set time within each area of the business so I am able to be exposed to different areas and gain experience in a variety of areas. I have had time within Commercial, Accounting and our Reactive team and am currently on our Capital works placement. For me this includes: Procurement for materials, operational, supervising, health and safety, quality.

I have learnt many new skills since starting my apprenticeship, and also developed existing. My communication skills have developed as well as increasing my time management skills and attention to detail. There are also hard skills that I have learnt through my university modules and also training events from the company.

I enjoy the apprenticeship I am on and look forward to my future development and progression within this career. There are great teams and colleagues that enable a great atmosphere to work in. I also enjoy my university off-the-job training which takes place one day a week which enables me to develop my learning and continue with my studies in topics that I like.

I have regular reviews in place with my line manager that enable us to organise a structure of development. This involves various targets set for me to reach and also set times to be in each placement/area of work within the business so that by the end of my apprenticeship I have covered a range of fields.

There is a lot of support from my employer including various training programmes and schemes for early careers employees to attend. There is also a big network to reach out to and various groups that can be reached for help and advice if it is required which is often quick and easy to gain support from.

There are set meetings from my training provider to set our goals and targets for my qualifications and also a general check in to see how I find both work and university side. I have a selected mentor from the university that is contactable and I can arrange catch ups when/if needed for any support.

My qualification tends to cover topics on a wider scale than my job role currently. However, information that I pick up from my modules tend to sometimes be useful and I can also see the value if I change projects in the future.

There are sometimes professional networking events that I have been fortunate to attend and also management events that groups of apprentices have been asked to facilitate certain sessions. There are also volunteering opportunities for us to help out with, social value schemes as well as team building social events.

Yes

Balfour Beatty has been a positive place to work and has provided many exciting opportunities as well as giving a clear structure for my development throughout my apprenticeship. There is also a lot of support from a wide range of teams and networks across the business as a whole, as well as really helpful colleagues which in turn, makes it a positive experience/atmosphere to work.

For my particular role as a degree apprenticeship, my advice would be to develop time management skills in order to manage both job workload and university workload as it can be difficult and pressured especially on times of examinations periods. Balfour Beatty is also a company that encourages development and likes to push people in order for them to progress, therefore tips would be to make sure to get involved with as many opportunities as they can and relay their enthusiasm to develop and be keen to understand the Balfour Beatty culture and values.