Apprentice Town Planner Review

On a day-to-day basis I work on a range of different projects (sometimes up to 8 a week) that are all around the country. My work involves working on planning applications on behalf of clients, working on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and many other tasks on behalf of our clients.

I have learned lots of new skills in my role as an apprentice at Arup. Firstly, it has allowed me to improve my communication skills, including my public speaking skills. I also believe that I have improved many skills that I gained in school and college - for example my report writing skills.

I really enjoy my programme - I believe it is the best programme out there, not only because of the apprenticeship itself but the people at Arup and more specifically the people in my team make my job so enjoyable and make me want to go to work everyday and that's why I believe it is the best.

My apprenticeship is very organised. I spend one day a week at University and the rest of the week working within my team on projects. In my opinion, I think that is the right balance within my work and it allows me to practice my learning on the job, rather than waiting until I finish my degree.

I receive a lot of support from my employer. Within my team alone, the support I receive is amazing - if I ever need anything, everyone in my team is there to support me, whether that be about work on projects or about more everyday things. However, from outside my team the support is just as great.

Within my apprenticeship I receive support from my training provider. Set up are conversations with myself, my work mentor and a person from my University in order to discuss my progress and if there is any other support they can give me. I could also go to any of the staff within my course and they will gladly help.

I believe my learning from my qualification is allowing me to perform better at work due to me being able to put my knowledge that I am learning from University into practice and to real life examples - I also believe this helps me for my qualification as I can refer back to my real life examples.

There are so many extra-curricular activities to get involved in at my work. Due to Covid, many of the sports team have had to go on hold, however they are slowly starting back up - however even during the pandemic, many activities are still taking place virtually, for example weekly yoga.

Yes

Arup is such a good place to work due to many reasons. Firstly, the support (as mentioned) is out of this world and I don't believe many other places will give you the support that Arup does. Secondly, the projects you can work on and the values of Arup make every day at work worth it.

My main advice would be to be yourself, especially at the interview. The more you are yourself, the more the company will realise you are the right person for the job. Also, I would say research the values of the firm to ensure you have similar values as the company want people who have similar values.