Supply Chain Management Degree Apprentice / Chartered Management Degree Apprentice Review

As a Supply Chain Management Degree Apprentice in Rolls-Royce, we rotate placements across the planning function every six months to give us as much exposure to the Supply Chain Planning and Control environment as possible. Each placement gives us a completely different experience to help build a value stream map of our organisation and how we operate. Generally, roles we experience include working with our customers and suppliers and managing performance, scheduling our supply in line with our monthly demand insights, creating manufacturing plans and other roles within the planning environment. We also complete other projects and activities in unison with our placements to support our organisation and what we believe in such as STEM and community outreach activities.

I have learnt many new skills so far on my apprenticeship, both organisation specific skills and also the skills required of a Chartered Management Degree Apprentice at the end of our scheme. These broadly include Operational Strategy, Project Management, Business Finance and other more personal skills such as communication, collaboration and leading and managing people.

Overall I continue to thoroughly enjoy the learning programme I have undertaken with Rolls-Royce and love to network and work alongside many hundreds of people across the Planning and Control function and wider organisation. I feel lucky to be part of the programme and value the skills and knowledge I am able to take away from my time as a degree apprentice. I do sometimes find it difficult to balance the demands of work commitments and our university studies however this is to be expected of such a programme.

Generally our scheme has been less organised than anticipated however this is due to the change from NVQ assessments to being graded against and having to gather evidence in line with the Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship assessment standard. As such, during my time on scheme there has been a lot of rearranging to help us understand and experience such areas of the standard which were not previously addressed which can at times be stressful however it is good to see they make these changes to support us overall in the grand scheme of things.

Rolls-Royce are overall very supportive of us as apprentices, in particular those employees working within the planning function. They make us feel extremely valued and we regularly get asked when we will be coming off scheme to align us to jobs in many areas so we are very high in demand which always feels so rewarding. We also have an apprentice leader assigned to us who supports us more on the apprenticeship requirements side of things, which again is a great support network to rely on.

It is always quite hard to complete our university work only having 2 recall days each month and therefore little contact with the training provider. I would say I did find this extremely difficult in my first year of study with the transition from A Levels however now I realise that this is somewhat expected at university. Furthermore now I am in my final year of study and completing many assignments in addition to the Work-Based Research Project (dissertation) I have a mentor who I can talk to and put regular sessions in with to discuss my progress and ask questions to which is great.

The university degree educates us in a way that we are able to apply the theoretical principals in the work place and put them into practice. This includes focus on relationships and the importance of looking after your employees, leadership theory, operational strategy via PESTLE, SWOT and more advanced business models. We also often write our assignments from the perspective of our employer, further highlighting the link between education and employment.

In the past, us Supply Chain apprentices have been invited to some corporate functional events in planning and control such as workshops and away days that have educated us on organisational changes and other general planning and control topics. These have always been really useful. There is also the apprentice and graduate association for us to network with other apprentices and grads, however I decided not to join this association as I didn't feel I would have the time.

Yes

Rolls Royce have given me an amazing opportunity that not many get which has allowed me to make the best possible start with my professional career and have helped me see where I would like to possibly work in the future. In many ways, they have given me a head start in comparison to other people of my age as I have completed my degree at the same time but in addition have 3-4 years of experience under my belt which make me more employable and realise what my aspirations are going forward. You also see how many senior employees of the company have started in a similar way to myself which is highly motivating and gives me comfort in knowing if I work hard I too could get there one day.

Be confident and show that you deserve the opportunity to be an apprentice at Rolls-Royce. Make sure you research the corporate values, behaviours and visions of the organisation as this is the backbone of our company and the main priority moving forward. Rolls-Royce want people working for them who can drive their business forward and you need to showcase your ability to do just that.