Project Trainee - Project Management Review

Here at BAE Systems my day to day role involves attending meetings with internal and external stakeholders, completing tasks given to me by my placement manager and stretch activities which I have signed up for outside of my placement. I enjoy many of the tasks that I have been given by my placement manager. These have included shadowing meetings with suppliers over quality assurance issues and the collaborative creation of a Team Charter for the project, which I am proud to have been involved in. Stretch activities are what you make of them. I am currently working with a team on the APM Challenge and begun work with the Local Apprentice Council as co-deputy chair. There are many other tretch activities available which are either short term or helping with a specific event, including apprenticeship interviews and 2025 induction preparation.

The programme within BAE Systems is well structured we received a training plan from the outset and are asked to regularly refer to this. Further to this the Early Careers team are on hand to help with any questions we have and it is clear as to who we reach out to in these cases. I would say that at some points in the apprenticeship some information has been hard to find, but once one of my colleagues knows this we are very good at sharing this amongst the cohort. For example; travelling to our university for a block period involved us all organising transport. This meant that our skills coach needed to book this for us.

I receive on going support from my employer. I have a skills coach who I can reach out to when I have queries about the high level parts of the apprenticeship, for example; who do I expense to? I then have my placement manager for day to day questions. At the current moment they are on leave however I know I can reach out to anyone on my project and they will help me.

I would say the support from the university comes when you reach out, therefore it is knowing who to ask the questions to. We have been very lucky that we have been signposted to the skills department, the library and IT which are the main parts of the university that I reach out to when needed.

My qualification is key to my performance in role. I am lucky to be in a project were the team are willing to give me tasks that enable me to apply the areas that I am learning about. This includes stakeholder management, communication, conflict management and the functions within the business. Further to this, I am a second career starter so I have soft skills and experience in the work place which has been welcomed and seen as a benefit in my role as I have been given taskings that are specific to me and my abilities. As my placement manager put it, 'I am not a regular first year apprentice.'

Yes

I believe that BAE Systems is a company where you can create a career for life. There is so many different projects to work on within your sector and you have the opportunity to move sectors if you wish and stay within BAE Systems. There is also the ability for travel and movement around the globe, all while working for the one company. I appreciate this as it gives me certainty and the ability to carve out my own career path.