Trainee Quantity Surveyor Review

On a day to day basis, I complete multiple tasks for various teams within my department. This involves preparing Value management reports and then attaining the relevant costs to provide the client with. I also manage and track the teams monthly spending on jobs and collate the data before distributing the data around to the relevant people.

I have developed many skills in the last 2 years of working as an apprentice including formal writing and communication; these being the two I feel are most valuable and help me every day. I have also developed skills and learnt new skills around IT that help me inside and outside of work. Some of these skills I find easy to pass onto others as well.

Over the length of my apprenticeship, I have had periods of time that I have enjoyed and times I have not. I enjoy my apprenticeship the most when I have a consistent workload and have the opportunity to go on-site and events etc. There have been occasions that I have little support and work and this is when I haven't enjoyed it.

I have had plenty of support in terms of learning the job, however, linking this to my course has always been a problem. Since I started and to some extent, now, It has been unclear what I need to achieve in the workplace to get the most out of my course and the apprenticeship as a whole and I think a more clear outline of objectives would benefit me.

My line manager and direct colleagues are aware that my course is hard to blend in or apply to my role. Though they are supporting it is difficult for them to make the changes I need and it is more down to the learning and development staff that have very little correspondence with myself.

As I study in block weeks and only have four a year, it can be hard to get quick and direct support, also as my training provider is based so far away. I have emailed in the past and had good responses to the problems I am having. Some tutors are much better than others so it is hard to say overall how well the provider supports me.

My course is very different from my role so I cannot say that is has helped me yet. At the beginning of the degree, some basic modules were covered such as maths and writing skills etc. and I feel these are the only areas that have benefited me during my time here.

Within my workplace, there is very little to no social activities outside of work. And team networking outside of work hours happens once or twice a year. A few Opportunities do arrive for networking events inside of work hours but these are mostly mandatory. Unfortunately, they are strict on your attendance to non-mandatory events.

Yes

Kier is a good place to work whether you want to be focused on one role or want to try different roles within a team. All of my colleagues try to be as supportive as possible and are more than helpful with my working role and my course. Though it can be difficult sometimes, hard work does get noticed. There is a diverse selection of people from different career backgrounds with a range of different experiences.

If you are applying to Kier, ensure that you are dynamic in your way of working as your input may be required in some unfamiliar tasks. Being confident open to asking as many questions as possible is beneficial as you can make the most of the people and teams around you.