Maintenance Apprentice Review

I'm a maintenance apprentice in the assembly hall of the EMC in Wolverhampton. My job role consists of reactive maintenance, AM & PM checks and when I have time available, carrying out maintenance based projects to help further my knowledge.

When I came into the job I had very little experience of maintenance and engineering as a whole, so I feel in that respect, I've learnt a lot. I picked up my PEOs at college and I'll finish with a level 3 NVQ in maintenance. The company have offered a lot of in house training that has been really beneficial, but this came from my factory, not the apprentice scheme. Unfortunately, although the apprenticeship scheme delivered adequate training, there were a lot of gaps especially on the electrical side, that my factory had to help fill for me and my fellow third years.

I genuinely enjoy the job role at this time. I work with a friendly, organised and knowledgeable team that are always trying to help where they can. I've worked in jobs in the past that I really didn't enjoy and I've never felt the same since having this job.

I feel a lot more valued to my factory rather than my apprenticeship scheme. In my opinion the scheme didn't really do a good job of taking any ownership over the Wolverhampton apprentices in my cohort, and we were left in the dark about a lot of things for a long time. There have been endless contact issues with apprentice managers and so on. However I'm glad to be in plant now because I feel a lot more valued and like I'm actually part of a team.

I do understand that my particular case is rare in the terms that my factory wasn't even built when my apprenticeship started. Long story short my cohort of apprentices were the first for this site and among the first group to be trained outside of Warwick. This meant our first year at college was very hit and miss. Some parts of the courses hit our needs perfectly whereas some were not needed at all. Also I feel in our second year we should have remained on day release rather than full time in factory.

I thought Wolverhampton college did a good job with the set up they had. The facilities weren't very big but they did spend a large part of their budget to accommodate the needs of JLR. Tutors were helpful and delivered exactly what JLR asked of them.

My maintenance supervisor and ITM offer as much support as I need. If I've ever had an issue I've always approached them and they've worked to help me sort it. However as I said above, my apprentice management have always been too hard to contact and if it wasn't for the on site management, we'd still be in the dark about a lot of things.

Our wage is very competitive compared to local apprenticeships, I have never really had any qualms with our pay. The rate for stage system gives us a pay rise every six months if we hit our targets.

The company offer support through the Employee Learning Scheme where they are willing to pay up to £200 a year to yourself toward some form of learning activity.

Yes

Working at JLR will leave you with a job for life should you choose it.

Spend a lot of time on your application form, because no matter what marks you get in your post application tests, they always refer back to your form. I've known people spend up to two weeks preparing the "perfect" application form.