Structures apprentice Review

Working in the factory with qualified fitters and moving departments every 6 months to gain enough experience to complete the nvq. The jobs can vary depending where your placement is such as being in the jigs where you're mainly drilling and bolting or working in equipping areas where some intricate jobs such as wirelocking and split pinning are done. Day release at college over 3 years to complete btec units needed for the qualification.

I have developed people skills as I am working with all sorts of different personalities and people from outside the local area with varying ages. I have learnt how to use a lot of different tools and gained knowledge on tasks which I would normally not use outside of work (wirelocking and split pinning are two examples).

Being in the final year I feel I have gained enough experience to help other apprentices in years below me which is something I didn't think was possible on my first day at college. I do really enjoy working for airbus and there's never been a day where I'm dreading going to work. However, there are some days where I go to work and put with fitters who aren't interested in having an apprentice as they feel we slow them down (how else are we supposed to learn?) Saying that, though, there are loads of really great people there who are willing to help and advise you on how to develop.

In fairness I believe it is a great task organising the programme given the amount of apprentices currently on it (I believe there to be almost 300) and the early careers managers seem to have it well organised. Information sometimes comes in last minute or you don't hear anything at all from early careers and you're told by another 3rd party (e.g. training). NVQ assessors keep you on track and I think they do a good job but obviously there's always some apprentices who don't put any effort in which leads to quality gates being extended, making the apprenticeship last longer for everyone. It's quite unfair on the ones who get work in on time and make effort. Factory process managers are hit and miss, it seems there is very little communication between them and early careers regarding apprentices. Some process managers won't give you the time of day and feel like you're a hindrance, but others are extremely helpful and treat you like part of the team.

Very little support unless it is asked for. You won't hear off early careers managers unless you're behind with work, call in sick or get in trouble with college tutors by handing in poor work. Again, this is subject to where you are with the apprenticeship and who your process manager is as some of them go above and beyond to get you documentation for nvqs (which for 2nd years is very difficult to get as they don't understand where or how to obtain drawings and standards). Early careers managers tend to paint you all with the same brush if there's a few lazy apprentices, this happened often in the first year where we would be grilled as a collective. There's little to no recognition for apprentices who work hard but I suppose that's the reason why we are there.

The college is quite poor in lesson structure. Btec work is usually posted on Google classroom and we're told to read through the slides and answer questions at the end. Some tutors do stand at the front and teach for an hour of the lesson. Due to COVID, all lessons have been online where the tutor goes through the lesson material and then gives us question sheets to answer at the end. The tutors are knowledgeable in what they teach but some could show a bit of enthusiasm considering how knowledgeable they are on the subjects. First year "TTO's" who looked after you for the week and had you work towards assembling a scanner mount bracket in my experience were awful. Very little help, treated you like children and would dress apprentices down in front of the group if they were missing something from their question sets or did something wrong due to poor teaching. It was really quite shocking and I was relieved when I finally got signed off for the first year. The factory environment is a million times better. My NVQ assessor for work based assessments is brilliant and points you in the right direction if you're unsure about a certain process or stuck with UPK question sets.

Some units haven't been used practically in the factory at all. I think a lot of it is to get us the btec and this can then be used as a stepping stone if we choose to go higher than an aircraft fitter (such as working in engineering, design or obtaining maintenance licences etc). It is better to know too much than to know too little and understanding how aircraft systems work helps with understanding why you are doing certain jobs in the factory.

There is a Gen A club for apprentices but there doesn't look like a lot of interest is being taken in it especially with covid and current restrictions. Apprentices tend to form their own social groups amongst each other and organise events with their mates after work or on weekends.

Yes

I would definitely recommend Airbus. The good definitely outweighs the bad. The first year for me was the worst as it was so strict and the workload was ridiculous considering we were there from 7:45 - 4pm and weren't allowed to complete any written work in the college, we were told this was to all be completed at home in our own time. Once you get passed the first year though it is a good apprenticeship and really enjoyable. The working hours suit me perfect being on double day shifts (6am - 1pm one week, 1.30pm - 8.30pm the next week) which gives me plenty of spare time out of work to partake in my hobbies. The opportunity for progression is brilliant once you're in and the pay once qualified is excellent, even the apprenticeship pay is good. You still get bonuses from airbus even if you're an apprentice and makes you feel valued and included. I've met a lot of decent apprentices, managers, fitters etc and it's generally a friendly place to work. I hope to be at Airbus for the rest of my working life.

Do some research into the company and what they do in Broughton. Do some maths and English revision as well as mechanical principles for the test. If you're invited to a group interview, be yourself but also remember to include others in your group should you have to do any tasks as Airbus love to see teamwork.