Higher Apprentice Review

My role is project management and so daily tasks include assisting the co-ordination of ongoing projects, engaging component teams, updating stakeholders, achieving sign off for vrious elements of the project cycle etc.

I have developed my Stakeholder management skills whilst also learning how to run a project with Agile. I have learnt about budgeting and forecasts and how the project runs it's lifecycle from engagement to post implementation support.

I enjoy the programme a lot as Ihave been eased into the role whilst I get to grips with various systems and processes used to run the department. I sometimes feel as though I am being drip-fed too slowly [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] however this is often quickly rectified with a new challenge.

My programme is fairly well organised, we are assigned a career coach from the company, a skills coach from university, a line manager and then all your uni tutors to support. I felt at the beginning they could improve on the organisation pre-first day. I only found out my department, role etc on my first day so couldn't prepare myself and then was left without a laptop for 2 weeks.

My employer is supportive, as mentioned above we are provided a career coach at work whom we have regular 1-2-1's with, also specifically my line manager has been incredibly supportive from day 1. I know that I can ask any question and recieve however much of her time as I need.

I recieve a lot of support from my training provider, we are assigned a skills coach with whom we have quarterly 1-2-1's with however we are encouraged to reach out via email with any questions we have. When I have needed support from university lecturers I have generally recieved replies to emails quickly with useful information.

I feel as though it does help me, although I am only in the first year of my apprenticeship we have just selected our course pathways. A more tailored course for my role will definiteyl help however the broad range of modules completed in the first year has allowed me to gain perspective of some of our component teams within a project.

My department is social, although I have not heard of any activities outside of work. I know there are sports teams at one of the sites (Radbroke) however my department are based in Manchester City Centre so there are not the options of outdoor sports teams there.

Yes

Overall as a company Barclays are focussed in your career progression in a way I've never experienced from another employer - they track you with regular progression reviews and yearly objectives you set yourself. Their community work is impressive as it is a mandatory requirements to carry out two days of community/charity work every year, fully paid.

The application process and on-boarding process is tedius however once settled in the job you gain such a massive amount of knowledge, new skills and things you can use in your future career, ther are a wealth of progression opportunities so if ever you find yourself wanting a change, you can do this within the company with the confidence that nobody is going to take you down for jumping department (something I was terrified of from my previous employer).