Supply chain apprentice Review

My role is in procurement, where I am responsible for the buying the process for a set few suppliers which I am allocated. I am tasked with managing this supplier as a procurement contact, managing an orderbook and sending out purchase orders to my suppliers. I also lease with my team and ask for tips and knowledge on how to carry out these tasks on our system.

I have learnt a wide range of new skills since starting this apprenticeship, one of the key ones I would point out is professionalism, this is because I have gained a valuable insight into talking in to how to talk in a professional manner and the body language I should use when talking in person to suppliers. I have also gained much more confidence from social interactions with people in the workplace and with external suppliers/ customers.

I am thoroughly enjoying my work because I feel like I am able to carry out my own tasks on a day to basis while being able to seek help when required. I enjoy talking to a variety of different stakeholders every day and I feel like am able to provide an input into the team and help out.

I feel like my programme is well strucutured as our set college days have been allocated for the rest of the programme which allows to plan well for the future. We are also moved around in 6 month placements which I feel is a good method of carrying out the apprenticeship as we know when we will be moving teams and we have the ability to get a full flavour of the teams in our apprenticeship. There is also a clear path to an exit role as we are put into various supply chain areas such as procurement, manufacturing etc.

There is a wide range of suppourt when things become difficult for us, such as in our day to day roles, managers are always willing to help out if we are stuck. also, on a broader scale there is a wide range of contacts for us for any issues we may have such as hotlines, skills coaches and company information.

Our training provider carry's out 2 workshops a month and then we complete our 2 assignments. This has proved to be a useful structure because we already have a very good background to completing the assignment before we begin. The workshops provide us with the necessary information and notes to complete our assignments and ultimately succeed in achieving a distinction in our qualification.

Many of the topics we have been covered have been relevant to our roles, for me specifically; we have covered procurement in the workshops and how it operates in businesses worldwide, which has been very helpful for my role because it has given me a background into why we are doing what we are doing and how it fits into the wider procurement process.

There have been a wide range of stretch assignments to get involved in such as open days, interview assistance and supply chain newsletter, which is where the apprentices come together once a week to create a newsletter for all apprentices which deep dives into what is going on in the world of supply chain.

Yes

I think it a great place to work as I have developed myself so much in the apprenticeship in terms of my networking skills, professionalism and most importantly my overall knowledge of supply chain and why it is so important for BAE. Like many other BAE employees I feel like I have a sense of belonging working every day and look forward to what the future brings and the wide range of opportunities that are available in this company.

One of the key tips I would give is to not be shy, try to get involved with as many opportunities as possible and try to network with your team, apprentices and others as much as possible as it allow you to settle in quicker and feel more comfortable in the workplace. I would also encourage people applying to think about what they want to achieve from working at BAE and what their long term plan may be.