With only nine months left of his four-year qualification, Ben Reilly has been commended for his flexibility and resilience during his time with us.
He told our Content Manager Allie about his experiences and what it’s like to take an apprenticeship with TSW Training.
Hey Ben! Please could you introduce yourself for us?
I’m Ben Reilly. I’m working for a company called Invacare and I’ve just started my 4th year of the Maintenance Engineering NVQ.
How’s it all been?
The company’s been through some really busy times recently, so it’s been a bit of a roller coaster with ups and downs. But yeah, it’s been good. I’ve enjoyed it so far.
Who’s your Training Advisor?
Gareth O’Shea.
How has it been working with him?
Yeah, good – he’s been really helpful. We had another apprentice I was working with. He was leaving at short notice, so he was trying to get all that work done and Gareth’s been coming in, you know, every couple of days to help us get it all completed.
He’s been a real good help to us – Gareth’s been a big help to me and he’s doing all he can for us.
Has the apprenticeship improved how you do your job?
Yeah, definitely. It’s helped with a lot of stuff we’ve done in work – they all link in together. So yeah, it works well.
And how does your employer support you?
Anytime I feel like I need time to get stuff done, I just go to my supervisor and ask him, “look, can I have some time on a Friday afternoon when it’s a bit quieter?” And he’ll let me crack on with any work I’ve got to do.
What motivates you to learn personally?
A qualification or some sort of incentive at the end. To know that I’m bettering myself, anything like that motivates me.
Nice. And do you think the apprenticeship has improved the way you work or your confidence at work?
Yeah, definitely. Towards the start, I wasn’t that confident speaking to new people but now I’ve got to the stage where I’m confident speaking on the phone. Obviously, we’re in a Teams chat right now. That sort of stuff I would never have done before, but yeah, here we are.
How long have you got left with your apprenticeship then? Does it finish quite soon?
I think it’s about nine months now.
How are you feeling about that?
Yeah, OK. It has crept up on us. There’s a lot of work to do but yeah, I think we’ll get it done.
And what advice would you give to people thinking of taking up an apprenticeship?
I would say definitely do it. Just be prepared to put the work in in your own time too. And obviously, you’ve just got to juggle things and organise your time.
A lot of people have said having that kind of balance between work that you’re doing anyway and then the apprenticeship too, it is a big commitment.
Yeah, definitely. Because you know, you do a full day in work and then you’ll have to go home and do a few hours work on some of your college work. Yeah, it’s tough but, you know, it could be a lot worse.
All worth it in the end.
Yeah, definitely.
And what are your career aspirations? Will we see you in 10 years’ time?
I’d like to be a qualified engineer, working my way up the ladder. Something like that. Hopefully, you know, move to some new place around the world.
How exciting! We look forward to seeing what you do next, Ben.