woodshop apprentice Review

As a woodshop apprentice for rolls royce motor cars, every day is different depending on the department i am working in. We do a rotation of every area in the woodshop spending at least 6 weeks in each one. I spend the days at work learning what the process for each department is and working on production parts. It is quite alot of responsabilty as the parts i work on will end up in a customer car. There is always apprentice projects the are on so some time will be spent working on that. I interact with the other members of my department and my process supporter. I have to organize my day myself so time managment is a skill i have developed.

My course at college is a furniture making course which means i have developed lots of practical skills for working with wood and doing technical drawings. At work and college i have develped my time managment skills and my leadership skills. how to comunicate in a proffetional way and how to get myself heard in a meeting of lots of people.

I have really enjoyed my apprenticeship on the whole. i think that as time has gone on the company has organized things better in terms of placements and comunicaton from when i first started. i think that the comunication bettween the company and college could be better. the environment in the work place is very friendly. the apprenticship has been better than i was expecting.

i feel very valued by my department, i am given a lot of responserbilitys with in my role and i get all the recognition for the work that i do.

i think that the work side is well organized and structured, it has improved massivly since i started which is very noticable. there are a few areas that could be improved such as clarity for what happens at the end of the apprentcship. college is averagly organized the time managment is not great and so you have to rely on your own skills if you want to achive the targets in the time frame. the comunication betweent the college and the company is poor but it has improved with in the last year and it is starting to make a difference.

we have a bi term meeting with the college tutor and work where we can descuss more of the issues if any with college. the general attitude is caring and supportive and i feel able to ask for assistance with any issues.

i feel i recive alot of support form the company and from the college. we have monthly meetings with our manager, apprentce coordinator and HR reprasentative where we can descuss anything we are strugling with or doing well at. there attitude is always supportive, they have helped out with arranging financal support for college matterial costs and other things.

i feel that the sallery is very good for a apprentice salary but it is not really enough in the first 2 years to live off if you dont livfe at home. i moved 300 miles away from my home for this apprenticeship and there for can not live at home. i have found it extremly difficult to afford to live on the south coast with the amount of money i earn. i have had to reduce my social costs to 0 to cover all the other costs of renting and bills.

there are always lots of opportunities outside of work for helping witht the company. there is often chances to go around the world to car shows to work on the stand. there is also always oportunitys to go to schools to talk about what the apprenticship is like. we also do alot of work with some of the local primary schools like the green goblin eco car compertition where we help out.

Yes

i feel that they are a excelent company to work for, not only during your apprenticship but afterwords as well. the opportunitys are endless if you fancy a change or to learn new skills. as for the apprenticship i think that it has alot to offer and is a great doorway into a exelent company.

the application process is quite long and difficult but dont be disshartened if it takes a while to hear back. the interview for me was more like a cassual chat about your self and your intrests/ skills so dont worry to much about your knollege about the company and its history and the questions usuall asked at an interveiw.