Power engineer Review

My role within BT is as a Power engineer apprentice. My role involves maintaining BT's internal power network in order to support customers and provide the best service. My role is extremely varied and no two days are the same. Day to day tasks include maintenance of power equipment such as high powered generator engines, air conditioning units and other electrical safety systems that power the telephone exchange equipment.

I have both developed existing skills and learned a massive amount of new skills throughout my apprenticeship so far. I have done this both through internal courses (such as health and safety courses), external courses (such as the develop training electrical instillation course, my day to day work activities and through my college course at stoke college. Having worked in customers service prior to this job I already had basic customer service skills, however since starting I have massively developed these skills seeing how my work directly affects the businesses customers. A new skill I have learned is basic electrical instillation. Before starting my apprenticeship I had never done any sort of electrical instillation so having done a two week external course on this I have learned a great deal.

I massively enjoy my apprenticeship. Since joining BT everyone on my work team has been very helpful and supportive in helping me to perform my role and develop as a power apprentice. I get to work with different people on the team with varied specialities to gain a wider variety of experience. Also prior to joining BT I had no previous power/electrical knowledge, therefore everything I have learnt has been new which has made the role very interesting and challenging. Progressive targets are set with expectations clearly laid out, I have enjoyed working towards and achieving these targets.

As a power apprentice our importance within the company as a whole is constantly being reinforced. Without the power that we maintain, BT simply could not run, therefore I generally feel that my role is an extremely important and valued one throughout the company. However as an individual I do not feel that I am always recognised for performing well. After recently performing very well In an external course and receiving positive feedback from the course leader, I was disappointed to learn that this was not fed back to my manager to know that I was doing well. Also I feel that there is not a good line of communication from stoke college to BT to give positive feedback and praise as I am performing well in college, again I think that this is something that could be improved on.

Overall my programme is structured extremely well. The company's two week induction process was very in depth and gave an insight into the company as a whole as well as an overview of my role specifically. The college course is also well structured with modules being well organised and learning objectives being made clear. NVQ is also effectively managed well by NVQ coaches who I have regular meetings with to track my progress/learning and ensure that I remain on target, NVQ days are also given to allow me sufficient time to complete work. I feel where BT could improve is the on the job training. On the job training is where I spend the majority of my time and this is left relatively unstructured and managed only by the people we work with daily, there is no set criteria that we must learn. This means that over the three years we could potentially miss a lot of important knowledge that would make us more effective in our roles. To improve BT could provide an on the job learning criteria for the duration of the three years and provide training for our "work buddies" to help them teach us.

The lecturers at stoke college I feel do not provide enough support to students. Although it is well organised I feel that the lessons at college are more orientated towards passing quick tests and meeting teacher targets, rather than actually getting students to learn. Also the lessons are very rushed and if an individual is struggling they are generally left to struggle as they cannot slow down the pace of the whole class. Effective support is then not given as lecturers are busy with high work loads. This is enforced by the fact that when I was struggling in college, I felt it necessary to employ a private tutor to give me the support that I should have been getting at college.

Support from my employer is much more effective than that provided by my training provider. The general attitude towards support in the company is very good and there are many opportunities from various parts of the business that I can reach out to to get support. For example if I need support with my NVQ I have an NVQ coach that I can reach out to as well as my work "buddy". If I need support in my general work tasks I can reach out to the HR team, I previously done this VIA an online chat and the team were very helpful.

I believe my salary package is very competitive for an apprenticeship wage. As my role involves a considerable amount of travelling I have been provided with a company van and fuel card, this saves me massive amounts of money that I would be spending in another job to commute. Other travel costs such as hotel stays are covered also. The salary does cover my living costs as I live with my parents but I would struggle to live independently off the salary provided.

There are many opportunities outside of my day to day work activities. Volunteering is something that is highly promoted throughout our apprenticeship and I continue to volunteer in a local boys brigade outside of work hours. I am also a keen health and fitness enthusiast and attend the gym regularly outside of work hours. I also attend the gym while travelling for work and participate in physical activities such as football with work colleagues outside of work hours when travelling. Having made good friends in BT when I started I also attend social events with colleagues such as team meals.

Yes

BT has given me a lifelong career with so many opportunities to develop in the future. The apprenticeship has been extremely enjoyable to date and I am learning a huge amount of valuable skills and trade recognised qualifications. The opportunities are endless in BT as it is such a huge company with so many lines of business so you can do almost any job within the company.

The best advice I can give to someone applying to join BT is to really sell yourself. The application process was largely based around what we can offer the company so it is important to think about the qualities that you can offer to the business. You will have an online recorded interview which I found was strange as your just speaking to a computer screen with no one on the other end, just pre-recorded questions, it is very important to rehearse for this if you have not had one before as it is difficult. You also have an assessment centre day, again it is important to sell yourself to the company and separate yourself from the other candidates.