Trainee Senior Authorised Person Review

Trainee Senior Authorised Person Typical tasks include assessing safety from the HV system and general hazards posed by the work to be carried out. As part of this role I also have to organized any materials and resources required to deliver the work. A lot of the work over the last 3 years has consisted of training and learning from existing employees whilst attending courses put on by our training centre and attending the Foundation Degree as part of our training programme

Through this course I have obtained a Foundation Degree in Electrical Engineering (Power Systems), whilst attending numerous internal courses to learn about all the equipment found within substations and the rules that govern our work.

I enjoy my place of work when I am on site, I get on very well with the team I work with and they all support each other. The some of training courses can be quite dry at times as a lot of them are delivered by powerpoint presentations and are located quite a distance from home (over 180 miles away). The trainers at the academy are all of a high standard and approachable however and the interal course have all been enjoyable. The practical course have always been handled well and are rather enjoyable.

I feel valued with my local team and by my immediate manager however due to the size and complexity of the company perhaps it can feel like I (and other in the same end role as I am destined for) can be overlooked sometimes by higher management.

The programme is generally well organized with few changes made to the expected timetable. I do however feel that there should be a number of different focuses from the start. i.e we are set a logbook to complete over the 3 years which seems aimed at completing work to different standards that we are not expected to carry out once we are out of scheme whilst there are other tasks we are expected to learn which do not arise until later in the scheme. I these were instead included in the logbook there would be a drive to obtain these skills instead which are a lot more relevant to the end role. It has also felt at times that the course is much too "target driven" with a lack of flexibility. i.e. the completion of the logbook content is set across the 3 years and takes no account of the newness to the industry or any other changes through the programme.

Our training provider puts on a number of course and the trainers are always available to contact to help answer questions.

My manager is always available to insist in any matters needed.

The wages have increased year on year with a larger wage increase due this year upon completion of the course. Due to my personal situation with a family (2 children) meaning my partner finds it difficult to find work it has been difficult to afford typical costs, however for a person in a normal position these wages my be much more suitable. Travel and car costs have pretty much been covered throughout the scheme however so that has been a great help.

None that I gave partaken in or am aware of.

Yes

Good company to work for, plenty of room for personal improvement and learning.

Be calm throughout the interviews, do not be afraid to speak your mind. The assessment days was a mixture of a practical instruction following assessment, a team assessment and a one to one interview. In all of these try to set yourself apart from the others with outside the box and methodical thinking. Other than that apply yourself fully to the course, you get out what you put in and there is a lot to take on so just try to break it down into manageable chunks. It would have been nice to have been made familiar with what is actually expected of the end role position i.e the prepping of jobs, safety documents and what kind of work is carried out.