Apprentice Review

My role is an elec mech apprentice within Portsmouth dockyard. When I am with an electrical mentor we carry out tasks such as lighting installations, machine maintenance, and maintenance on electrical systems. When I am with a mechanical mentor we carry out machine maintenance in the workshops and training centre.

The skills I have learned include carrying out maintenance on machines in accordance to their maintenance schedule while minimising downtime, and working with a combination of old and new electrical systems, ensuring they work well together. I have also developed my skill of arranging jobs, ensuring that risk assessments and method statements are created for the job, and requesting personnel from managers so that they can carry out work at the same time as me during downtime.

The mentors I work with are often extremely knowledgeable on their subject areas, having been working in them for decades. It is enjoyable to work with them and learn from them. The programme itself can sometimes be frustrating due to occasional lapses in communication, especially with the current pandemic which has made everything more difficult.

The structure of the programme could do with improvement, however my intake was the first intake to undertake this particular programme and most of the issues encountered have been due to unexpected bumps or occasional lack of communication between the various parties involved. However, the issues encountered have been taken on board by the company to improve the experience for future intakes.

Communication with and support from the training centre after the first year could be improved. My mentors and my manager are extremely supportive in all aspects of my apprenticeship and my voluntary commitments. My manager in particular always has my back, she has been extremely helpful in supporting me to get to into the job role I am interesting in upon completion of my apprenticeship.

I have received very little input from Fareham College throughout my apprenticeship. Most of my support has been directly from BAE Systems employees. When some Fareham College staff came to visit they were able to provide me with a lot of information I had been wanting. More support from Fareham College would have been helpful.

The learning received from Fareham College is very broad, with only some bits being specific to our roles. I would have enjoyed learning more about the systems I work on. The health, safety, and environment aspects of the course were very in depth and informative, they seemed to be the focus of a lot of the delivery.

There are very few extra-curricular activities available here, however I do volunteer on the Emergency Response Team which is funded and run by BAE Systems for the dockyard, with most of the members being BAE Systems employees. The ERT has greatly helped my social and professional development over the past few years and introduced me to a great team of people.

Yes

BAE Systems overall offers a very good apprenticeship to those willing to put in the effort, with great future development beyond the apprenticeship for those who are interested. They are continuously looking for ways to improve and provide their apprentice with ever improving experience. The pay is also very good for an apprenticeship.

Prepare an example of a project you have followed through to completion that you can talk about during your interview, even better if there is a physical product that you can bring in or show photos of to the interviewer. Be sure to thoroughly research the company before the interview and have a good idea of the route you would like to go down.