Higher Business Leadership Apprentice Review

I am a Higher Business Leadership Apprentice. Every apprentice is involved in different parts of the organisation. We move separately around the business doing rotations in quality, materials, sourcing, operations ect. I am currently situated in a 6 month rotation learning and managing our exchanges and loans for the repair side of the organisation. This involves me identifying repairs that will be unable to meet the contract date and offer the customer an alternative permanent or loan unit to satisfy the contract. This also involves managing our levels of exchange stock so we always have a unit to offer. On top of this I have been tasked several projects to help the department remain competitive and organised. As well as the departmental projects, there are also projects we get involved in as apprentices to help reduce cost out of the business. At the moment I am helping to lead a cost-out project for the repairs business with the aid of other apprentices in this area.Every apprentice is also involved in an extra curriculum activity consisting of Ambassador, Charities, Schools, or Citizenship. I currently lead the citizenship team which offers apprentices the chance to participate in activities outside of work, i.e sports/site visits/leisure. We also do a foundation degree in leadership capabilities with the chance to top up this to a BA in leadership management for another year. The university modules are specifically tailored to GE and encourage us to reflect on how we lead and initiated our various projects and work.

Not only have I learnt the various tools and techniques for our university degree, but also how to use them when put into practice in a work place environment. We get the experience of working in various teams around the business building up our knowledge and expertise of the business. We learn and practice presentation techniques, debates and various other communication skills which has really made me more of a confident person. We get GE training in Lean Six Sigma to help develop our project improvements and allow us to be registered Green Belts.

We are pushed to challenge ourselves and to take ourselves out of our comfort zones so we improve and develop over the course of the apprenticeship so we become a valued part of the organisation.

There isn't a department within the organisation without an apprentice there that is relied on and trusted to perform as one of the permanent staff. The fact that our university and project work ties in well with the day-to-day departmental work it makes networking between managers of departments and apprentices easy.

The HBLA apprenticeship is constantly evolving and improving. These improvements are also driven by the apprentices themselves so we have say in the how we feel the scheme could improve further and then take action on it. Dependent on how much the apprentice puts into each rotation determines how much they will gain from it. This is why we are heavily involved in choosing our own rotations and setting the goals that we wish to achieve in the period we are there for.

We receive training with our lecturers about once a month but are able to contact our tutors any time with any issues and receive helps answers.

Due to how much we do for the departments for the organisation, the majority of managers are really supportive in anything we do. We are set senior leaders of departments as mentors to help us grow to be the next leaders of the organisation. There is also no limit on the amount of mentors you have either, and to have good contacts in every department always helps you with your networks. Colleagues I have worked with are always there to help and I have never had an issue working along side permanent staff

In comparison to other apprenticeships GE pays handsomely. Taking into account that not only do you get paid a good wage but also are being trained and getting a university degree with no money out of your pocket is a massive positive

GE are a very active community. You'll see people going for jogs/biking/swimming on their lunch break. We are actively involved in the community helping charities and schools whenever we can

Yes

This world wide company is rated one of the best in the world by Forbes and offers so much experience and opportunity for young talent that it wouldn't make sense to say no.

Be yourself. Be confident and always back up with what you say in an interview with evidence and conviction. GE are looking for good team players who communicate effectively. Make sure this is shown when in an interview.