Asta Zarecke talks to us about her experience with the Hovis Engineering Apprenticeship Programme.

As it's National Apprenticeship Week this week, we caught up with Asta to find out a bit more about her journey at Hovis.

Asta, what motivated you to undertake the Apprenticeship in Engineering?

I was really ready to study again, having been working in Manufacturing for some years. The earn-while-you-learn option was the best one for me, it allowed me to learn new skills while working and putting the learning into practice.

I was always interested in Engineering. I love solving problems - that's my thing! I’m always asking questions to get to where I need to be next. My experience of working in the food industry to date was good, but when there was a problem with the kit I had to call the engineer to fix it. I wanted to be able to fix it myself. There is a tremendous feeling of pride and satisfaction in completing the job yourself, and it's even better when someone else is proud of you too. The team is really supportive of me and I feel very appreciated in the engineering role.

Has the programme met your expectations?

Yes it has, in fact, it has exceeded them. I thought I would like the theory, and I expected it to be interesting, but we also get the opportunity to put our learning into practice at college, and at work too. Ultimately that's what we do as engineers, right? So the more I get involved with the practical stuff the better. For example, recently we learnt about changing a bearing at college, and the next day we were working on bearings in the college workshop, then a few weeks later I was asked if I could actually do the same job for real.

What have been your highlights so far?

I enjoy college, but the practical jobs really put everything into perspective. I can get into the detail of how things really work in practice, and what my impact on the product we produce for our consumers is. Specifically, I really enjoy the programming side of things. I worked on a job to program a conveyor. The sense of satisfaction I got was brilliant, I love it when I can get something to work properly, especially when it’s complicated.

The best bit for me is when I’m called on to a breakdown. Lots of things can happen all at once, and it massively increases your knowledge. I really like that the Apprentices are involved in the day-to-day work of the department, we learn from the whole team, as well as our mentors, who are really helpful. I enjoy that every day can be different, despite having a plan, if something more useful comes up, the engineers will offer us the opportunity to take part. It keeps you on your toes too.

Thanks Asta, we can't wait to see how your career in Engineering develops...