Birmingham-based 20 year-old Robert Tait shares his experience as a rail apprentice at WSP.
I’ve really enjoyed my first few weeks at WSP. On my first day I was understandably very nervous even though I had already met my colleagues at a group meal the week before I started. But after arriving and being introduced to the rest of the rail team, I relaxed; feeling reassured that I was going to be part of a great team. By the end of the first day, I already felt like I was settling in well with the rest of the team. I’ve also received great support from my colleagues. I can guarantee that everyone is very approachable and will help you with any issues that you may have.
Although there’s a lot of paperwork to complete during the first couple of weeks, I’m really looking forward to working on the different rail projects that my team is involved with, such as HS2. During the first month you’ll meet all of the apprentices at an induction event. We had a fantastic day with our learning and development team, learning more about the company’s visions and we met Mike Rogerson, the UK chief operating officer, who gave a very interesting talk about how he’d been an apprentice when he started with the company.
The following day at the induction event, we attended Go Ape – a high-wire course with lots of different activities including Tarzan swings, stirrups and zip wires. It is definitely a lot of fun if you can cope with being up in the trees. Bearing in mind that I had not known the other people in my group for more than a day, we actually worked really well together.
During the past week, I have attended my first office meeting and taken the opportunity to provide input into some HS2 (the new high speed railway between Birmingham and London) project work.
In joining WSP, I feel that I have made a fantastic decision which will help me kick-start my career, and I hope that you will have the same experience too.
