Western Power, Craft Apprenticeship advice.

[H20Luis]

I have a few questions about the application process for the Craft Apprenticeship, if anyone has been through it, your advice will be appreciated!

1. What was the Pyschometric Testing like, were the questions hard? (if you could give an example of what the questions were like that would be great!)

2. What did you do for the Pracrtical Assessment? any tips?.

3. How was the interview process, any tricky questions?

I want to be as prepared as I can, as im planning on applying for the apprenticeship, and I also hope that this would help any individuals who are on the same boat as me.

Thanks!

 

[Deleted account]

No answers from members . Maybe non of them have been through it. I haven’t either.

if you haven’t done it yet good luck.

normally for apprentice applications it’s all pretty common since. They will just wantbto see if your likely to stab yourself in the foot with a screw driver and just get a feel for your personality And work ethic. too see if you have what it take to do the learning.

don’t worry about it. You’ll do fine.

let us know how it went

 

[StephenRowley]

What area with Western Power? Without know what area can't really advise on practical stuff.

I work in subs for National Grid, so have awareness of DNO level stuff.

I would do a lot of reading up H&S stuff how to carry out risk assessments, ERICPD ect. There big on that stuff. A bit of knowledge on how permits for work work

 

[Tipton]

The tests were just basic maths and english when i did it. (8 years ago so may have changed)
The practical tests involved climbing up a ladder and performing a task at the top, following a diagram to perform some basic wiring and something else which I've forgotten. Take your time and you'll be fine.

 

[StephenRowley]

Also look at RIIO 2 and how there funded, learn a bit about how greening of the grid and vehicle fleet will put pressure on the DNO. Dont need to know massive details but show an interest.

 

[Edtwozeronine]

My Father used to work as a plant operative in various power stations, one of the questions he was asked was asked at an interview was; What is the cycle of an internal combustion engine? Answer: Induction, compression, ignition, exhaust. He believes this scored him the job and only remembered it from a school physics class.

They'll probably want to know that you have a general understanding of everything electrical, EG: Wind turbines are geared and have many sensors controlling the direction they face to maximise the force of the wind on their sails, pumped storage pumps water back up to a reservoir at night using lower cost electricity, so that when called on by the national grid turbines can be quickly spun up on demand to increase electricity supply, how a direct online starter works? Pretty much anything that could be linked to the electrical industry.

Psychometric testing has been debunked as a virtually useless tool for selecting candidates but continues to be used by big corporations to find staff, so let's hope there's not a lot of that rubbish.