Trainee Engineer Review

Training to be an Openreach engineer, we are learning lots of different areas including dpd cab work to connect wiring. Climbing telegraph poles and providing, renewing and removing cable. All to connect customer premises to telephone and broad pad. We are also learning how to fix faults that occur on these lines to maintain a service on behalf of service providers for their customers.

I have learnt lots of new skills so far I have learnt about traffic management and how to direct traffic and pedestrians when working on faults where assess is needed. I have learnt how to test for gas in the network. I have also learnt how to climb up telegraph poles in line with health and safety and the to wire up so telephone and broadband can connect. I have also developed my driving skills to use a van for the job.

I am really enjoying the training, it can be demanding and physical but it is great to get hands on experience learning all of the different sections of the job before going out into the field. I am enjoying the chance to learn all the skills from scratch but it is a long period of training away from home which can be a lot and tiring.

The program at the start of the journey was not very clear, you get given a lot of information but not much help and guidance to the company and how the training will progress forward. Once you receive your training plan from there it is well structured. With each course on the plan so far they have been very well structured to give you as much information as possible and direction as to where to go for what’s not. All the trainers have been very helpful and given a lot of direction.

You do receive support on the training with your face to face trainers but it is sometimes lacking when you have to find answers from other people like managers via email or phone. Often they will not respond and you have to chase or find another way to get the support.

You receive lots of support from the trainers after the first induction week. They give you lots of information and help support you in a number of different ways whether it’s one to one help, or where else you can go to get the support you need. They are also approachable find you need anything additional.

I think the qualification helps provide you with all the background and skills needed to carry out the role not only to complete the work but also to do it safely in line with health and safety guidelines. I think you get given a lot of knowledge which will go on to help you when carrying out the role and being confident that you are do a good job.

There is a workplace social media site that you can find out about what’s going on in the company and how to get involved in events or groups you may be interested in whether that’s on a professional level to network or socially with group events or even getting involved in your local area supporting charity.

Yes

It is a good company with a lot of opportunity. You can train in something you haven’t had any previous experience in and get the opportunity to progress in that role or move to new areas and develop skills further. They invest a lot in providing their employees with good in depth training and offer you support along the way with developing a career path, dealing with any mental or physical health issues you may have.

Look into the company, find out what they do and the ethos of the company. Look for ways to get background knowledge on the company and the role you are applying for, whether that’s in a similar role or by using internet sources. Read through employee journals about their training to give yourself an idea of what will be expected of you.