Process Engineering Degree Apprentice Review
at Cavendish Nuclear
Degree Apprenticeship
Chemical Engineering
Birchwood Park
Review Submitted: April 2025
Overall Rating
4.3 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
4.2/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
My daily role consists of varying engineering tasks depending on project needs, this could be calculations, engineering drawings, process descriptions or other documentation, we then culminate our work and ideas in team meetings or project meetings to monitor progress and reach targets.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
I really enjoy my program. I believe it provides me with a great amount of responsibility which in turn makes me feel very valued. The work is also very rewarding and I can easily relate it to the wider world and consider my impact.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
In general, I believe my role has taught me a lot in regard to computer literacy particularly relating to the use of Microsoft Office software. It has also developed my ability to work over multiple disciplines as I share some of my work with the mechanical / electrical teams.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
4/5
The program is very well structed. I have multiple people in multiple areas there to offer me support, the early careers team sits in an objective position, in order to give me the support I need. Where my line manager and University team work in tandem to ensure my course objectives are met.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
My employer is very supportive. The team I work with in particular are very keen to help me and will attempt to organise meetings to create a gap analysis on my skills, so that they can fill any holes in knowledge that I might have from my course.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
My training provider is very good at providing support. We have on-campus delivery blocks in order to aid the delivery of information and provide us the opportunity to ask questions, we then get given a lot of resources to aid in our coursework, as well as quarterly skills reviews to provide us the chance to monitor our progress.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
My qualification is directly linked to my work role. Therefore, the modules that we complete in University will help me directly with my job, particularly with calculations and report writing. The course teaches me the overall theory and then the company will take that and guide me down specific working examples.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
4/5
There is a general expectation for us as Early Careers to complete at least 22 hours of extra-curricular activities, this mostly relates to STEM work such as outreach to schools or careers fairs, they also provide "be kind days" which is an additional days leave that can be used to volunteer ourselves to complete charity work or community work.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Cavendish Nuclear to a friend?
Yes
Why?
The environment and working culture is very good. There is a focus on people and flexibility is given to support them. The salaries provided are very competitive, the work is very rewarding, the training received is of a really high quality and overall everyone working around you wants the best for you and will help you reach your goals.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Cavendish Nuclear?
Overall, reading about the nuclear industry would be very beneficial and understanding the general nuclear cycle. Additionally, read the job role you are applying for carefully, try and understand which parts of the role you have a strong knowledge on and where you might be lacking and then try and develop yourself to meet the specification.
