Planning/Material Management Assistant Review

My job title was Business Administration Apprentice, and my daily tasks were the same as the existing staff in the departments. For example, I got to have 3 of my customers, plan the daily transport, help to plan the manufacturing lines, post invoices, help with month and year end. On a day to do basis I would speak to both internal colleagues (in the UK and in group) and also external suppliers/customers.

I have gained a level 3 NVQ in Business Administration, and I have been on a few internal courses such as health and safety level 2 and a risk assessment course. I have gained skills such as a working in a team, time management, decision making, better communication skills, how to lead a meeting.

I really enjoyed the apprenticeship. It was brilliant to work in a team in each department as though I was properly part of the team. I really enjoyed all of the work, and it was really good to be in different departments to be able to see how work affected other departments. I met my expectations and more, it was a really enjoyable and worthwhile experience, and how I have a great job at the end of it that I really enjoy.

I feel very valued at Egger, I know this because of Eggers continued recognition of my hard work through meetings and appraisals. Through the apprenticeship there was several opportunities to be involved in different projects.

The scheme is very well structured and planned out, everyone knows from day 1 what the plan is for the next 2 years. There was a week long induction for all apprentices which was really good because you got to meet managers of the departments you were not spending time in such as health and safety. You went on site tours and got to meet lots of people and become friendly with fellow apprentices. The studying was great, and mainly handled by the collage after HR explained the process, and they were brilliant and organised too. I had regular meetings with all managers regarding the apprenticeship training etc., and each manager already had a plan of what training I was doing so I could get straight into it.

I received a lot of support from my assessor. We met regularly, and she was always available to phone and email. I really enjoyed working with Lorraine, and she was brilliant and going through the NVQ and giving advise and constrictive criticism on my work.

I received a lot of support from all of the managers of the departments, HR and also previous apprentices. There were two previous apprentices' when I joined Egger and I was able to talk to them a lot about their experience, what to expect, and if I had any problems I know they would help. The managers were great and always had 'catch up's' with them to make sure training was ok and was generally happy. HR were always really good, and same as the managers were always making sure everything was working well and I was happy.

The salary for the apprenticeship is very good, and much higher than the government rate of pay for apprentices. This was really important for me, because I don't live locally, so on a government wage I would not have been left with much money after I had paid for travel costs.

We have a sports and social club who always organise events such as theatre trips, and days at the races. The charity committee often promote local businesses where you can use their facilities for discount, such as the golf course, and gym.

Yes

Egger is a brilliant company to work for, and the apprenticeship scheme is very well organised and thought out. It is brilliant how you move around different departments to learn about the whole business. The company also does what it can at the end of the apprenticeship to get a job in the department you liked and enjoyed the most.

The first bit of advise I would give is to make sure the application is checked for all grammar and spelling, make sure it is concise and you sell yourself. The assessments are an important part of the application process, but you are not solely judged on them, so you should only do your best. For the interview, the most important thing is to make sure you research about Egger and learn some facts that you can recite in the interview.