Why Choose a Project Controls Technician Apprenticeship
What does a Project Controls Technician Apprentice do?
Ideal for those who are interested in an engineering career, this apprenticeship route entails progression for both technical and practical minds. Often taking on roles to plan, conduct risk assessments and carry out infrastructure and engineering projects, you will have plenty of opportunity to take part in many exciting responsibilities for an interesting career path!
Level 3 Project Controls Technician
This level three apprenticeship will allow you to not only get the equivalent to a college course / GCSE, it will also give you crucial industry project controls experience which will help to explore many areas within this career path! An apprenticeship is useful because you can learn while you earn, which is ideal if you have just left school, if you would like an alternative to going to college full time, or if you are seeking a beneficial career change.
Project Controls Technicians – Needed Now More Than Ever!
As technology moves forward at a rapid rate, project control technicians are more in demand to oversee projects and calculate risk. Your progression opportunities can lead to many different sectors to specialise in such as risk assessment, project planning, project cost management, and more! With opportunities such as these, this apprenticeship route can benefit you and your future in many ways.
Interested in learning more?
If you are looking to become a level 3 project control technician apprentice, or if you are looking for similar apprenticeships, please consider looking at the training that Apprentice Now has to offer. Alternatively, if you are interested in more tips and information on apprenticeships to help you choose your career, we have plenty of articles with all the info you need!
What started as a Gen-Z dominated dance/lip sync battle craze has quickly become an entire beast of its own. Connecting the world in an instant, placing power in the hands of small businesses, and creative artists, making them overnight sensations. Placing your content in Infront of an audience that wasn’t even looking for it, gives you access to a market you could only dream of otherwise.
In this article, we will discuss the impact of TikTok on your business and how this exciting new app on the block is going to revolutionise the way digital marketers create content. Are you ready for some TikTok Tips?
TikTok Tip: Real people give REAL Results
TIkTok is known for light-hearted, and entertaining content, 30s of joy before the next new thing. The platform is thriving because it’s real people exposing themselves in creative and sometimes ridiculous ways! Even if you’re a ‘serious’ business, brand credibility is always a top objective fro your social media stategy, and TikTok has basically given you a 1-way ticket to establishing that!
The clue is in the name, social media users are hungry for social interactions. TikTok offers you a platform where you can educate about your business whilst embedding humour and creating long-term relationships with consumers. The brits love humour, so they’re more likely to remember your business if you’ve evoked emotion from them!
TikTok Tip: Reaching for the stars.
TikTok has been downloaded over 2 billion times since its launch in 2016. This means TikTok is the perfect way for you to reach an international audience. The clues in the stats, if those many people have downloaded an app then contrary to popular belief, it’s definitely NOT just Gen-Z using it! There’s a doctor, seamstress, traveller, dentist somewhere who’s an active user. Just tapping into a piece of that audience is the opportunity you need to get in front of the right people.
TikTok Tip: Influencers Galore.
The best thing about TikTok? Absolutely anyone can go viral. This ability to give anyone a chance to become influential means that TikTok offers a limitless pool of influencers you can pick from. 86% of marketers have used influencer marketing to generate sales or increase brand awareness. To save you time from watching endless hours of TikTok to find the right influencer for you, TikTok did all the hard work for us and created the TikTok creator Marketplace. Simply put, it’s like picking the right FIFA player for your team. They have created an analytics tool that helps brands find the right user to partner with. It lets you see all the important stuff like engagement, reach, demographics and views.
TikTok Tip: User Engagement
On average, a user spends 52 whole minutes a day on the app. As screen time inevitable increases, there is definitely an opportunity here for you to advertise to customers. There’s so much variety on TikTok, there’s space for everyone to share their products and services. Noteworthy, TikTok has some super unique algorithms which means you’re going to get much higher engagement on your videos with half the effort!
TikTok Tip: Beating the business
In 2020, TikTok launched TikTok for Business which basically provides digital marketers like you and me, with a whole social media strategy readily available to help maximise their reach. They give you tips and ideas on how to generate content with the right partners.
TikTok Tip: A piece of advice?
TikTok is a storm that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it’s an exciting time, encouraging us to experiment and create dynamic content. It is forcing us out of that boring box to try new things, educating us about things we didn’t know existed whilst creating mass movements and bringing cultures together. It is allowing us to travel to the far corners of the earth whilst being in our bedroom(sometimes bathroom).
If you are a digital marketer looking for some great ways to improve your marketing, check out some of the articles below:
Is your website traffic lower than expected? Then you came to
the right place my friend! Here are 7 great tips to increase website traffic.
1. Email Marketing, old but gold
There are so many ways to market your brand in 2021, it important not to forget one of the traditional methods of marketing, Email marketing. Something as simple as an email blast can give your website the kick it needs to gain more traffic. Top tip, it’s imperative that you do not do these emails too frequently. People receive so many emails per day already, people are likely to unsubscribe to your email list if you use this method too much.
Email marketing is incredibly versatile, how you thought of using
targeted email? Using your email database, you can use tools such as Mailchimp
to send emails to a specific audience. It could be based on behaviour, geographical
location and based on their interests. You can even personalise the emails by
adding subscriber names to add a personal aspect you the email.
2. Be active on socials
Using social media to increase website traffic is one of the best and cost efficient ways to create awareness for a campaign as it’s easy and completely free! For short and snappy content with a good image/video/gift, Twitter is your best bet. In contrast, using Linkedin (predominantly used for connecting professionals) you would aim to use a more formal tone and engage the reader with a story or blog post.
3. Optimise your page using SEO (Search engine optimisation)
Another cost-efficient way to increase traffic for a brand is using SEO. Ensuring that the page has healthy keyword density, image alt text, fast page loading time and having secure backlinks to the page can boots organic traffic and build more awareness for your brand.
4. Invite a guest to your blog
Guest Blogging is a great way to gain exposure to a new audience.
Identifying known bloggers and social media influencers that fit with your
target audience and getting them to guest blog on your brand website is a great
way to expose your brand to a new audience as they are likely to share it on their
socials and which should bring more traffic to your website.
5. Display banner advertising
Having great imagery and engaging text on a web banner will attract people into clicking the link and finding out more about your brand and website. Ensure that the banners are on websites that the target audience is likely to visit.
6. Take a deep dive into your website analytics
Using specialist tools like Google Analytics can be a game-changing source of information on everything about your website. It can tell you what is the most popular page, bounce rates, demographics and even who is on your page at this very moment. You can leverage this information by analysing and using this to optimise your strategy. If a particular post is popular, why not make more content about a similar topic and see how it performs? See how, where and when you get visitors on your website and where exactly are they coming from?
7. Grab user’s attention with Video marketing
Studies suggest that retention is remarkably higher for visual material over text. Text on websites and blogs are a very important aspect of gaining more traffic on your website. However, videos can both attract new visitors and make your website a lot more entertaining, it grabs your audience’s attention and has the ability to drive your website traffic up at the same time – it’s a win-win!
I hope these tips help you on your mission for more website
traffic. Even if you get one of these right, you should be a boost in traffic.
Thanks for reading!
Could you see yourself independently diagnosing and rectifying vehicle faults whilst having a customer-first approach when dealing with owners of vehicles? Then this could be the apprenticeship for you. Find out what it takes to become a Level 3 Accident repair technician.
Jobs
and entry criteria for the Level 3 Accident repair technician
apprenticeship
Level 2 English and maths is required in order to achieve
this level before taking the end-point assessment. Applicants should expect
employers to set their own criteria.
In order for an applicant to attain maximum success and a great attitude, a positive approach to learning and development and a high level of drive is needed
Key
responsibilities of an Accident repair technician
After a vehicle sustains a
type of collision damage, an Accident
Repair Technician should be able to repair all elements of a vehicle which can range from small through to
heavily impacted damage that needs highly complex repairs or replacement of the
major structure of the vehicle.
A typical Accident Repair
Technician would work in a workshop-type setting that is highly technical and
modern. The range of vehicles can be from car, car derived vans to light
commercial vehicles.
Sometimes, the level of
competence they’ll work on and obtain is in all craft aspects of vehicle and
accident repair. Including Mechanical, Electrical & Trim (MET); Panel
Repair & Replacement; Preparation and Pain. In addition, an Accident Repair Technician can interpret and work precisely to detailed
and technical repair specifications and, at times, find these instructions from
a range of sources.
To work in a focused, analytical and methodical fashion is a key attribute for an Accident Repair Technician. They must completer repairs consistently in a timely manner with a right-first-time, customer-focused culture in mind when working on vehicles.
As part of your role as a competent Accident Repair Technician, you must be able to demonstrate the following behaviours:
The adoption at all times of a good health and safety first mentality as standard practice
A customer-first approach when dealing with owners of vehicles and other clients
Recognises that high quality is intrinsic in every activity throughout the accident repair process
A strong and positive work ethic
The ability to work in a team and be a good team member
A positive attitude. Good aptitude. Excellent ambition
Effective communication throughout the repair process, both with clients and with other members of the team.
From day one it is expected that an Accident repair technician embrace’s the need to put customer satisfaction at the forefront. To be able to excel while working within a cohesive team is a prime attribute for any Accident Repair Technician.
Skills required to be an Accident repair technician knowledge modules and vendor exams
As an Accident repair technician, there are disciplines, knowledge and skills that’s must be met in order to complete the apprenticeship:
Mechanical, Electrical and Trim (MET)
Remove all damaged & associated components from a vehicle.
Re-assemble replacement or existing components to a vehicle.
Remove and re-assemble permanent & non-permanent fixed vehicle body panels
Remove and refit all types of vehicle body panels
Remove and refit trim components
Identify and describe principle vehicle electrical components and systems
Diagnose and rectify basic vehicle electrical faults
Panel Repair & Replacement
Repair all types of vehicle body panels
Repair or refurbish Trim components
Repair vehicles using thermal welding operations and processes
Repair vehicles using non-thermal joining, bonding and adhesive processes
Remove, repair and replace structural body panels
Identify and rectify vehicle body structural misalignment
Preparation & Paint
Apply body filler & foundation materials
Prepare all types of vehicle body material
Prepare & refinish metal, plastic and pre-painted surfaces
Repair minor defects in all types of body panels and materials
Apply paint, primer and basecoat
Apply topcoats and clear coats and complete final refinishing operations
Identify and rectify paint or preparation defects
Cross-cutting
Carry out their work safely in the workplace and adhere to relevant health and safety requirements
Develop strong working relationships
Conclusion
The Level 3 Accident Repair Technician apprenticeship is a great entry point for people to kick start their career. You’ll be able to earn while you learn while gaining a recognised qualification which will open up a range of job opportunities in the future. For instance, you could progress and complete the Level 4 Vehicle Damage Assessor qualification via the institute for apprenticeships taking your knowledge to an even greater level. If being an Accident Repair Technician interests you, then this is a qualification to choose as it has the potential to accelerate your career and solidify your future as a vehicle technician.
A Spectacle Maker Apprentice is anyone who uses their skills and labor for the production and repair of finished, quality assured spectacles. This comes within a wide range of prescriptions, coatings and finishes, frame types and styles. They will be using a range of materials for frames, lenses and optical manufacturing and repair tools and equipment. They may be working within a small glazing workshop or in a larger manufacturing environment.
KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO BECOME A LEVEL 3 SPECTACLE MAKER APPRENTICE
Health & Safety
How to comply with current health & safety at work legislation and regulations including COSHH, PPE in the work environment.
Safe handling of materials and work processes that ensure the safety of self and others. This includes methods for the safe and sustainable disposal of waste materials.
Materials
The properties, uses and limitations of materials used for spectacle making including types of resin, plastics, glass and metals.
Techniques for protecting, moving, handling and storing materials.
Tools
The key optical tools and equipment used, the principles of how they work, and how they are prepared, maintained and safely used, including:
Hand tools such as precision screwdrivers and optical pliers.
Checking tools including focimeter, lensmeters, calipers and base clocks.
Process tools including Laps and pads.
Cutting, planing and polishing equipment, drills, tinting baths and coating machines.
Quality
The application and monitoring of the employer’s quality standards including methods of recording work.
Construction of Spectacles
The process of spectacle making and the elements and principles for the construction of spectacles.
Typical construction of spectacles and work practice and any restrictions placed on the construction including availability of lens types / frame limitations.
The Manufacture, Service and Repair of Spectacles
How to diagnose, analyse and assess for repair or manufacturing options.
How to assess and advise on the appropriate level of intervention that may be required.
Costings and the process of seeking approval for work.
How to apply mathematics and the optical science necessary for the production of prescription and non-prescription lenses.
Possible manufacturing problems which may occur and how to respond to them.
SKILLS REQUIRED TO BECOME A LEVEL 3 SPECTACLE MAKER APPRENTICE
Health & Safety and Working Environment
Maintain good standards of health and safety for self and for others, using safe working practices.
Prepare and maintain a safe working environment, where both hand tools and mechanical tools are prevalent.
Identify and minimize hazards and risks in the working environment.
Technical Interpretation and Understanding
Create and interpret technical optical specifications, drawings, and other written and verbal instructions for the manufacture and repair of spectacles. This includes the identification and appropriate response to problems, including testing and adjustment, seeking advice and guidance as appropriate.
Manufacturing and Repair Process
Select and use the appropriate processes, techniques, materials, tools and equipment for manufacture or repair of spectacles.
Undertake the spectacle making process from inception to realization.
Remove and dismantle components and products, correcting faults and re-assembly of spectacles to the appropriate standard.
Tools and Equipment
Carry out testing and adjustment of spectacles, including lens conformity, frame set-up and cosmetic checks.
Maintain materials and equipment as appropriate, including grinding and polishing equipment, assembly tools, (precision screwdrivers, optical pliers, routers), measuring devices (focimeters and lensmeters, base clocks and calipers).
Quality
Work to the appropriate optical quality standards and systems, with efficient use of time, materials and resources.
Record work and either self-evaluate or obtain feedback from others to improve work and working practice.
BEHAVIORS REQUIRED TO BECOME A LEVEL 3 SPECTACLE MAKER APPRENTICE
Quality Focused
Follow policies and procedures, have a strong attention to detail and apply quality assurance checks through the spectacle repair or manufacturing process.
Professionalism
Have a strong professional work ethic including pride in your work and attention to detail.
Plan and manage time effectively.
Self-development
Keep up to date with best practice and emerging technologies within the optical sector.
Obtain and offer constructive feedback to others, and develop and maintain professional relationships.
Safety Orientated
Be aware of and adopt the processes and procedures for the safe manufacturing or repair of spectacles for both self and others.
OTHER DETAILSFORTHE APPRENTICE
Typically the apprenticeship will take 24 months to complete. The maximum funding for this course from the government is £4000. Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the end-point assessment.
CONCLUSION
This apprenticeship is perfect for anyone with an interest in spectacle making and starting an apprenticeship. Once the apprenticeship has been completed and the apprentice is qualified, achievement of the standard meets the requirements for eligibility to be admitted as a Freeman of the Worshipful or Company of Spectacle Makers.
To keep up to date about approved apprenticeship standards in the UK please click here.
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Learn more about our favourite marketing tool Canva, and how it can help you shine as a Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprentice.
Like many occupations, Digital marketing is, well… Digital. We’re almost certain you’ve seen a plethora of advertisements for various task management services, designed to streamline workflow within a digital environment. Asana, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are examples of these services. These platforms excel at what they do due to the need of a stable method of communication and task management within a digital organisation.
It’s safe to say, demand for these platforms has increased dramatically in the past 15 months, with the current times having a huge effect on everyone’s working situation. Infact, Microsoft teams alone saw a 50% increase in daily users in the first 6 months of the global pandemic, most likely due to the large percentage of employees working remotely.
Using Canva As A Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprentice
With over 30 million active monthly users, Canva is a well established, industry standard web tool primarily used for content creation and digital marketing strategies. It’s been made even more accessible recently with the addition of a downloadable app version I can access from my desktop and mobile device.
Used to create social media graphics, presentations, printable documents, animated and other visual content, Canva offers users a platform for marketers to create digital content easily with in-built assistance.
Because of its unrivalled ease of use and low stress, this is a perfect tool for learners, as well as professionals.
What Is Canva Pro?
“It is essential to have good tools, but it also essential that the tools are used in the right way” – Wallace D. Wattles
Digital tools are absolutely vital for a level 3 digital marketing apprentice, and professionals. One of the most popular has unquestionably been Canva Pro, a digital marketing tool used by new and established businesses as an alternative to heavy, expensive software with a much higher skill ceiling.
Canva Pro is the paid-subscription version of Canva, which brings a number of additions at a reasonable price of £99 per year, including:
75+ million premium stock photos, videos, audio and graphics
420,000+ free templates with new designs daily
Create 1 Brand Kit and upload your own fonts and logos
Unlimited use of Background Remover
Resize designs infinitely with Magic Resize
Save designs as templates for your team to use
100GB of cloud storage
Schedule social media content to 7 platforms
Top 5 Uses For Canva Pro
75+ million premium stock photos, videos, audio and graphics
Finding the right stock photo for a project can be a time consuming and sometimes pricey investment, however with Canva Pro’s large bank of stock images, you’ll be able to find the perfect image, 100% of the time. By entering simple keywords into the search bar, you can find exactly what you’re looking for all in one location.
Unlimited use of Background Remover
Want to be able to remove an entire background from an image? Well Canva gives you the option to do that with 1 click…pretty good right? Well Canva Pro removes the limit cap on this function, allowing you to remove as many backgrounds as I want!
Upload your own fonts
A disadvantage about the regular Canva compared to Canva Pro, is the inability to upload user fonts. This can be particularly problematic when a client has specifically requested a font for a piece of marketing, ruling Canva out of the question as a resource tool. Canva Pro removes this issue by allowing users to create a Brand Kit, adding logos and fonts to the application without restriction.
Instagram Stories
With 1 billion monthly Instagram users and over 500 million daily story users, engagement has never been more important on the platform. With the sheer amount of traffic, incorporating stories into your strategy is a great way to advertise to consumers, and take up all that screen space. Stories aren’t the easiest thing to design, that’s where Canva comes in. With tons of story templates you’ll be able to harness this digital tool to save me time, and create relevant content.
Content Planner
Exclusive to Canva Pro and Canva Enterprise, introduced in 2021 is the content planner feature. If you’re familiar with content planners such as Buffer and Hootsuite, then this feature needs no explanation. However if you’re not familiar, we will provide an explanation here at ApprenticeTips.
This feature turns Canva from a tool which focuses on content curation, into a platform capable of publishing content directly to social media accounts from the application. By simply linking an account to the right project folder, with a few simple clicks we can add images to a calendar, picking and choosing the dates and times for our freshly created content to be published out to the world wide web.
Conclusion
If you’re an aspiring or professional digital marketer, I advise this tool over many of the others. It combines versatility with ease of use, removing the stigma that good visual content can’t be achieved without heavy duty software. While Canva is a free to use application, the amount of assists and benefits the Pro Subscription brings will certainly help you shine as an apprentice!
To learn more about the Level 3 Digtial Marketing Apprentice course in its entirety, click this link.
To discover more about Canva Pro, you can visit the website here.
Not what you were looking for? We at ApprenticeTips publish regular blogs about tools and best practices for learners. We also offer training programs and apprenticeships from a huge library of options, including the level 3 digital marketing apprentice.
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An AutoCare Technician Apprenticeship is a robust way to get industry experience and training in the car repair industry. If your goal is to keep cars moving and help vehicles last longer, this opportunity might be for you.
No area of the Car Repair landscape would be able to function properly without Autocare Technicians. They are the labourers, existing as the heart of the workforce and are capable of carrying out a range of services and repairs to cars. An Autocare Technician demands a combination of technical skills, customer services and retail qualities.
An Autocare Technician Apprentice would need to demonstrate a good grasp of the practical and theoretical aspects of vehicle repair and maintenance, being able to work as independent workers and part of a team when required. A candidate would need to understand how their respective centre operates from a brand standards point of view, whilst knowing how their role contributes towards business objectives.
Technical accuracy will be important, however the role also demands excellent customer handling, telephone correspondence, sales, organisation and problem solving skills. All these are required to become a competent Autocare Technician capable of conducting industry standard levels of work.
Autocare Technician Apprenticeship Details
Behaviours:
An Autocare Technician will be expected to demonstrate the following:
A passion for car repair
The ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team
A strong work ethic needed to maintain a good relationship with customers
Meet the standards required by your employer
Compliance with equality and diversity policies
Level:
This apprenticeship is set at level 2.
Qualifications & Entry Requirements:
Each employer will set their own entry requirements for an apprenticeship, but a level 2 in Maths and English is generally required before taking the end-point assessment.
Duration Of An Autocare Technician Apprenticeship:
This apprenticeship will take an expected duration of 30 months to complete. (This can be reduced depending on course and learner requirements). This can be reduced if the learner has demonstrated competency before this threshold, or has had previous experience in this field before.
Like many of our Apprenticeships here at ApprenticeTips, the role is broken down to several work aspects, each requiring a different skill set that an Autocare Technician would be able to do.
What Requirements Do I Need As An Autocare Technician?
To thrive as an Autocare Technician, an employee would need to apply safe working procedures to work on both hybrid and electric vehicle systems, since these types of cars have become more popular in recent years. The ability to carry out safety inspections using vehicle specific data is also important, considering the legal implications.
Adhering to health & safety legislation in the workplace is also needed in this sector. You’ll also need to know the importance of following workplace procedures and the importance of not doing so. The same applies to health and safety legislation and company compliance.
A basic to moderate understanding of motoring fundamentals including steering, suspension, braking, battery and charge systems.
What Skills Will I Achieve In The Workplace?
The ability to conduct a variety of mechanical procedures using industry standard tools and diagnostic equipment. You will learn how to carry out vehicle safety inspections, replacement of specific mechanical parts, tyres and components, and carry out stock management procedures. While complying with company policy, industry standards and healthy and safety legislation.
An Autocare Technician Apprentice will also be required to embrace the customer service and sales side of the industry. Learning how to deal with low level complaints, communicate with both customers and suppliers and use specific IT systems and hand held devices to complete work to a high standard.
In this blog, the core elements of an Autocare Technician have been covered, but there is more to discover. To read more about the Autocare Technician apprenticeship in its entirety, click here.
Conclusion
This course offers an excellent starting point for a rich and enjoyable career within the autocare industry.
You’ll also be able to learn while you earn, and really build a bond with the apprenticeship program while you’re at it. Opportunities will present themselves towards the end of your learning too, if you wanted to continue your education with us at ApprenticeTips.
Not what you was looking for? Follow us on Twitter to stay updated with our latest blog posts and course info!
Fascinated by the field of high speed rail? Are you interested in getting involved with some hands-on experience whilst also gaining a reputable qualification? If so, the Level 4 High Speed Rail and Infrastructure Technician (HSRI) Degree will be perfect for you. This apprenticeship is ideal for anyone with the interest in high speed rail, whether you have just finished school or you’re looking for a new job opportunity.
The Role of a HSR Technician
High-speed rail is a specialist area of work and has job roles such as civil engineers, higher technicians in track, power and infrastructure, and operations managers. A HSRI Advanced technician has to provide technical solutions within the construction, maintenance and operations of a high-speed railway. Whilst on your apprenticeship you will be responsible for the safe design, construction, installation, maintenance and operation of a high-speed railway providing both a safe and reliable service for the customers. Throughout your apprenticeship you will develop skills and knowledge relating to high speed/conventional networks and infrastructure in order to manage the interface between the systems.
Core Technical Knowledge, Skills & Behaviours
Knowledge
Firstly, health and safety regulations pertaining to track
Identification, avoidance and mitigation of safety and health risks in design, construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning
The factors of a track system, especially as applied to HSR
The differences between conventional and high speed track and the interfaces between the two systems
The essentials of constructing properly supported track bed
The impact of alignment, hydrodynamics (chiefly drainage) and geotechnics on track
Track geometry and the influence of speed
Impact of assets and structures on the track system
Processes associated with the planning, design, construction, monitoring, ongoing inspection, maintenance, renewal, repair and failure mechanisms of track
Manufacturing and construction methodology behind track
The range and use of specialist equipment and plant for track
The necessity of designing, planning, coordinating and supervising temporary works;
Lastly, environmental impact of the whole track lifecycle
Skills
Engage in processes that identify, avoid and mitigate safety and health risks in design and construction
Apply safety and health practice during planned and unplanned activities across the track lifecycle
Comply with legislation, processes and standards relating to the planning, design, construction, monitoring, maintenance, renewal, repair, manufacturing and construction methodology, disposal and environmental impact of track
Contribute to the design, construction, monitoring, maintenance, renewal, repair and decommissioning of track
Contribute to determining appropriate manufacturing and construction methodologies, including the decommissioning and environmental impact of track
Produce and interpret detailed technical documents, including the application of BIM and other regulated information systems
Account for the impact of alignments and geotechnics on track design, construction, maintenance and final system needs
Contribute to testing and commissioning including integration with other systems
Behaviours
Keeps a safe secure and healthy working environment through personal responsibility and behaviour
Is customer focused and is dedicated to improving the customer experience
Effective self-manage, prioritise and a proactively approaches work and continuous professional development.
Effectively lead
Acts professionally, shows commitment to the industry and employer, and is an effective ambassador for the employer
Is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and act ethically with integrity and respect
Works flexibly, embraces change, handles ambiguity and accepts new ideas and ways of working
Uses effective communication skills to work collaboratively and to exchange constructive feedback
Entry Criteria for a Level 4 HSRI Technician
Thinking there’s a catch? Well there isn’t! Employers are mostly only requiring 5 GCSEs including both English and Maths. In addition to this, they would like to see A-levels, including maths or physics, or a BTEC. Upon completion, you will receive a Level 4 (Higher), which is equivalent to a foundation degree. Maximum funding for the apprenticeship will be £21,000, with a potential salary of £25,000 pa, once completed.
However, if you haven’t got your level 2 English and Maths certificates you will be able to do so before your end-point assessment.
For more information on apprenticeships take a look at our website
A woman writing on paper with a pen
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking to start a career or even just grow your skills in the High Speed Rail and Infrastructure, this apprenticeship will help you to learn some valuable, useful skills. You may even want to see what else is out there, feel free to explore some different apprenticeships we have to offer in the engineering and marketing field.
More information on Engineering and Manufacturing opportunities can be found here.
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Get In Touch
Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or queries in regards to apprenticeships.
When working on clients briefs, you are sometimes met with working with multiple international teams. You may be tasked with filtering out key information and providing a solid analysis of digital platforms. If you are within the cohort working towards a Level 3 Digital Marketer Apprenticeship, these two exercises that I used may be a practical guide to problem solving with market data on digital marketing campaigns.
Very often when working on a global client, you will have ownership over market research that compiles activity across markets whether it’s across a region or a smaller cluster. One tip from me would be to make sure materials are localised for teams with attention paid to currencies, cultural events and time frames.
If you’re a
core market (aka a hub), you need to access what past and current activations
markets are working with and apply this to a global scale, using logical thinking
to analyse situations and define goals that can be met by all markets.
Exercise #1: Briefing Template for Markets
To start, I would
recommend a briefing template that will engage the other markets and keep you
informed as to what competitors are doing that affects your target audience.
You will use this template to submit requests to your local markets where they will need to:
1. Sign up to digital comms for 3 competitors 2. Collect the brand comms they receive and provide evidence 3. Provide a summary and POV of their findings 4. Detailing any key case studies relevant to their market 5. Category Trends Overview
These three competitors will be based on the category relevant to your client. This would include a direct, near (similar values but different budget) and category brand competitor (this would be other brands that play in your field).
Examples of what this would like in a briefing template below.
This can be mocked up in either Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote.
Instructions
Overview of Tasks
Description on category trends task
You would need to take them through the process with a scheduled call over Teams/Zoom/Skype and then reiterate over email the needed asks with a set timeline with both time zones included. These planning documents will serve as a helpful overview of activities across markets that you will pick apart and consolidate further.
Exercise #2: Communication Maps
Once you have these decks completed, you can take some independent time to record key findings and correlations between markets. Another way to help further your analysis and pinpoint key trends and insights, is then to create these communication maps which can be mocked up with the same digital tools.
These will help compartmentalise the market data and present their findings into an easily digestible visual flow chart.
Taking the same data provided, you can ask markets to populate these illustrative graphs (or do so yourself) like so:
An example of a filled in Communication Map
Above is an example of what this could look like. Make sure to replicate this across the markets with the three competitors listed (direct, near and category brand) as identified in the first exercise.
You should have 3 per market so multiply this based on how many countries/territories you look after.
How does this help in the long run?
Once this is
compiled, you will soon spot what category trends and behaviours are happening across
markets that can be easily replicated or modelled after in your own. This strategy
that is both a competitor analysis and a proactive problem solving activity,
helps you see the gaps in where your digital marketing offering lacks and
provides solutions as to how to improve, be on par or excel beyond your competitors.
It provides a practical, real-time comparison that allows for structured techniques that help draw key conclusions and resolve future issues, which may be as simple as diversifying the communication funnel or increasing the rewards for joining or subscribing to a membership.
Once you know the areas of weaknesses that can be improved on, you can actively contribute to the development of solutions, can prioritise needed action with data evidence and help optimise spend and performance based on these findings. This will ultimately help you drive change and garner better engagement across your target audiences.
To read up more about Digital Marketer apprenticeships, take a look here.
If you’re interested in footwear and would love to get involved with a highly respected and skilled trade – this new apprenticeship is one for you. This role includes exciting opportunities available with the likes of sportswear, high-street staples and luxury makers such as New Balance, Dr Martens, Cheaney Shoes and Gaziano & Girling.
History
The British footwear manufacturing industry, like Saville Row, supports the pursuit of excellence that embraces innovation and technology. With approximately 30 larger footwear manufactures in the UK and 60 smaller specialist ones, they together make up 5.6 million pairs of footwear that is exported and dotted around on our pavements from one street to another.
An artisanal craft that is greatly rewarding, footwear manufacturers are now looking for apprentices to join their small-scale operations making specialist or bespoke / personalised footwear. Depending on the company, your apprenticeship can have you working all the way up to larger factories with extensive teams and international departments, creating larger runs of footwear that can be exported overseas.
The Role of a Footwear Manufacturer
This Level 2 Apprenticeship teaches everything you need to know about the full end-to-end process on how to manufacture a piece of footwear.
Over the course of 12-15 months, you will learn how to work quickly and accurately use hand tools, technical equipment and machinery. You’ll learn how to follow briefs with specification for different types of footwear and learn how to create a majestic range of shoes with varied timescales and quality standards.
If you have a strong eye for detail and quality with a flare for design – this is one to consider!
Footwear manufacturers will join a team, reporting to Team Leaders, Supervisors or Owners as well as interacting with Production Managers, General Managers, Quality Managers and production colleagues. For those in a smaller team, you will also have possible access to clients and designers
Typical day-to-day duties of a Footwear Manufacturer include:
Cutting materials (mainly leather) by hand or by machine/laser
Skiving (thinning materials)
Closing (sewing the upper part of the footwear)
Lasting (forming the footwear)
Attaching the sole either cemented or stitched
Finishing the footwear
Quality inspection and packing to company specification
This falls under the engineering and manufacturing route with maximum funding of £5000.
Core Requirements – Knowledge & Skills
Health, Safety & the Environment
Safe working practices to minimise hazards and risks from storing equipment to maintaining work procedures
Health & Safety legislation to your area of responsibility for others and the environment
Effective use of equipment and safe working methods
Hazard and risk identification in the work area
Footwear Construction Process
Learning the importance of brand quality standards with attention to detail throughout
Understanding footwear construction terminology as well as sizing and variations of production for different product types
Gaining insight on materials, machinery and equipment required for each stage of the production process
Footwear Materials Tools & Equipment
Understanding the characteristics, properties and behaviour of a variety of materials and components used in footwear construction and their suitable application (such as high quality leather for premium footwear or softer materials for ballet dance shoes)
Identification of production problems and correct materials and components
Preparation for quality check and reporting faults to upper management
Learning advancements of production problems and associated corrective actions
Performing routine maintenance to ensure the efficiency of machinery, tools and equipment
Footwear Work Practices
Instilling company’s history, policy, brand values towards the customer base and product range
Helping run a cost effective workflow, following through on specification and appropriate work instructions to meet customer and company requirements
Implementing efficient and effective use of materials by closely following instructions and minimising waste
Undertaking processes to consistent speed and quality requirements as outlined by the company
Core Requirements – Behaviours
A proactive approach to Health & Safety procedures, personally and towards colleagues
Demonstrates a positive mind-set towards maintaining high standards of quality, precision and excellence
Self motivated, punctual individual who is flexible with change, new requirements and changing priorities
Team player that upholds equality and diversity in the workplace
Entry Requirements:
Individual employers will set the selection
criteria and specify the entry requirements applicable to their work.
Should you be without a Level 1 English and Maths certificate, you will be required to take a test for Level 2 prior to taking the end-point assessment towards the end of your contract.
For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement, an Entry Level 3 and British Sign Language qualification will also be allowed.
Conclusion
There are plenty of training opportunities out there, whether you’re looking to up skill, grow dynamically or kickstart your career in another direction whether it’s design, engineering or marketing based. Feel free to browse our other apprenticeships to see what’s best for you.
More on Engineering and Manufacturing opportunities can be found here.
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