Environmental Practitioner Review

Day to day can look quite different, especially as I have progressed through my apprenticeship. I am still learning new things everyday which I really enjoy. My apprenticeship works on rotations, so I join a new team every year (used to be every 6 months) this has allowed me to explore my different interests and find what I enjoy most so that I can settle in a team at the end of my apprenticeship

My confidence has definitely grown. Everyone I have met has been so accommodating and helpful, it has really helped to bring me out of my shell and feel like I can share my opinions on things. My time management has also improved, mainly due to having to meet deadlines. I try to make sure I am not taking on too much and my company doesn't make me feel overloaded.

I have never felt like I made the wrong choice in choosing the environmental practitioner degree apprenticeship. I knew I wanted to do something in the environmental sector, I just wasn't sure what. This apprenticeship has helped me to discover career paths and job opportunities I didn't know would even be available to me. Its nice to finally have an idea of what I enjoy doing most !

As nobody has actually passed this apprenticeship yet things can still be a little confusing in terms of what is required of the apprentice when it comes to the End Point Assessment. As I am only in my second year, by the time I get to this stage things should hopefully be a bit more clear :)

Quite a bit, mainly from my line manager at work. As I am the only environmental apprentice in Birmingham, it can sometimes feel like I am overlooked and not the priority but they do try their best to check in when they can and make sure everything is going okay

It can be a bit hit or miss. It depends on the lecturer as to what sort of response you get over email. Some of them will reply straight away, others not at all, and sometimes they won't even answer your question the way you would have liked them to.

It depends. The modules we learn are quite broad so that they can cover everything environmental (try to cover everyone's job role sort of thing). This just means some modules won't match up with what I am doing at work which is fine, as it wouldn't be possible for it to work any other way.

Yes there is but I usually choose not to take part in anything outside of the team I work in :)

Yes

I think this is a mixture of yes and no. At the moment utilisation has become quite a big deal and this can often make people feel a bit demoralised (treated like statistics rather than people). I haven't had an issue with this myself but I know people who have, but it is being worked on. Other than that I haven't had a bad experience. I get to do a mixture of desk based and site based work which keeps it interesting. The work itself is also enjoyable. The employee benefits are good and we are entitled to 2 annual volunteering days which are really great for team building and are just a nice day out helping those in need!

In terms of the interview, just be yourself and don't say things you think they want to hear. Be authentic. My interview was virtual at the time but I think they are in person now! Do your research on the company so you know what you are getting yourself into, and understand whether it is the right fit for you!