Real world experience

This week’s 12th annual National Apprenticeship Week, which runs until Friday 8 March, is a great opportunity to highlight the fantastic benefits that an apprenticeship brings to employers, individuals and the economy.

At Royal Mail, our apprentices make a huge contribution across a number of areas, including fleet vehicle maintenance, engineering, project management, finance and HR.

Based in our Newport workshop, Rosie Wilson is in her second year of a LGV technician apprenticeship, having started in September 2017. Before her apprenticeship Rosie studied light vehicle maintenance and repair, but felt that it didn't go deep enough into the mechanics and systems that operate within vehicles for her.

‘I chose an apprenticeship because you learn on the job, meaning you get real world experience as well as simulated situations in a classroom,’ said Rosie.

‘I used to tinker on my dad’s car when I was younger. I never had a plan to go into vehicle maintenance, but I found that having studied it, I fell in love with it. I would recommend an apprenticeship as I believe that you learn more from hands-on teaching. You learn more logical approaches to problems, better technique when using diagnostic tools and you become more fluent using hand tools.

‘My workshop is like a second family to me, and like a family we each have different skills, interests and experience. This means that if anyone needs a hand, someone will know something to help. This knowledge then gets shared and everyone has an opportunity to learn.

‘I love the hands-on problem solving that mechanics brings to the table. I really enjoy learning how things work, and how you can fix them. There's definitely a satisfaction from fixing something that didn't work previously.

‘Strength for me was a problem to begin with but I’ve come to realise that it was down to technique rather than my size and strength. It isn't really an issue anymore as I've learnt how to use leverage to my advantage, this makes even the heaviest jobs easier.

Applications for vehicle maintenance apprentices are now open. If you have a friend or family member who is interested in applying, they can find more information at https://earlycareers.royalmailgroup.com. Applications close on 9 May 2019.