Thales

Formal Training

How would you describe the training programmes offered at your firm? What skills have you picked up as a result of this training?
2011 Reviews

  • The Graduate Development Programme provides excellent training in key areas. However, I have received no job specific training since I started due to budget constraints. The GDP provides me with an excellent mentor who helps with my progression towards professional registration.

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  • While there is a lot of training offered on the Thales Graduate Scheme, a lot of it is very generic indeed. Thales has taken a 'one size fits all' approach to its graduate training programme, meaning that no training is particularly specific to any of the graduate roles. Additionally, while Thales do encourage graduates to work towards an engineering chartership (e.g. CEng), when a graduate does achieve this qualification (typically after four years), Thales makes no attempt to reward them or retain them, resulting in a very low graduate retention rate since jobs can be found elsewhere that offer a better package and more promising career progression for chartered engineers!

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  • The formal training that is provided on the Graduate Development Programme is very good. It is a well defined program of training courses that follow visible objectives. However, all of these courses cover soft skills and business skills, not technical skills. Getting training for technical skills is much more difficult, even when it is necessary for my job. When I started I requested training for the new technologies I would be working with for my job. Seven months later, I still haven't received this training, which would be largely irrelevant now, as I have, by necessity, picked up bits and pieces relevant skills, enough to get by with my job, but not enough to be really confident. However, informally I have found my colleagues always ready to teach me how to do things that I do not know how to do, and in this manner I have picked up sufficient skills to do my job.

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  • There is a well established Graduate Development Programme that offers structured training and development over four years. There are numerous training courses, typically focusing on non-technical training, and other graduate events throughout the year. Mentors are available for all graduates and in general provide valuable support. The allocation of technical training is much harder to gain.

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  • There is an extensive graduate training programme with structured courses as well as the opportunity to request additional training if needed. For example, I have attended a report writing course and geometric tolerance training. Managers are extremely approachable and mentors are fantastic.

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  • The Graduate Scheme encourages training and taking the opportunity. I am roughly out of the office at least once a month on training. In my six months with the company I have already been to Crawley, Reading, Basingstoke, and Cumbria on training courses. I have learnt about quality and business improvement, what is expected from me as a graduate, about the company, and about different business units. The training course in Cumbria was an opportunity to meet graduates from other sites. We worked together on a number of classroom and outdoor activities, and had the opportunity to volunteer to lead these exercises. At the end of the course everyone in your group (in my case 12) gave feedback on what you did well, how you contributed and what your weaknesses are! From this an action plan is developed to help you improve overtime with the support of the group.

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  • Mentoring is relatively new in the company, but good advances are being made and more mentors are becoming available. Mentors can be as involved as you want them to be, ranging from merely checking and commenting on reports, through to having regular meetings. The amount of contact is generally the graduate's decision. Soft skills training is extensive on the grad scheme (programme management, bid process, quality [&] improvement), however the amount of job-related training is still relatively low (although there is some, maybe four-five courses a year). Plans are in place to improve this. Managers can be approached, but the decision on training generally comes at a corporate/senior level.

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  • As with all graduate entrants to the company I am enrolled in the company's graduate training scheme which is primarily aimed at developing soft skills. With a few exceptions, technical training is on the job. As mentioned previously, the people I work with are very good at giving me the space to learn and develop my skills. The company encourages professional registration and assigns every graduate with a mentor to help guide and encourage you towards gaining the experience required to register. It was one of the great attractions to me that this was embedded into the company culture.

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  • From what I have experienced so far, the graduate training has been useful for soft skills although at times it is noticeable that the course is more suited towards the engineering aspect of the company.

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  • As previously discussed, Thales has an extensive and well-structured Graduate Development Programme. Training opportunities are plentiful, well structured and provide a useful opportunity to further learning. To date, I have attended the Way Ahead Part 1: a residential in Windermere, which focuses on teamwork and the importance of effective feedback; a Quality and Business Improvement Course; and a Supply Chain Management Course.

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  • I am scheduled to attend a lot of training courses over the year to September, the courses I have attended have been worthwhile, well run and I feel I have gained something from each of them. Thales puts a lot of effort and money into their training for their graduates. We have a good mentoring scheme, I am paired up with a senior engineer and meet monthly to discuss my progress, any events/ projects I have coming up and any issues I have been having at work.

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  • The graduate formal training is very good, though I'm not sure how easy it is for non-graduates to get formal training. I've always found managers very accessible, and have arranged informal training on occasion. I've learnt many useful soft skills on the graduate training scheme, and have also gained a formal Project Management qualification.

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  • Graduate training centres on soft skills and aiming people towards management, whether or not they want to go that way. With the graduate training taking up a few weeks a year for the four years, technical training is more difficult to come by as projects would like us in the office to do their work occasionally! I have managed to get on a one week technical training course though, and the on the job training is excellent. The depth of experience within the department, and the willingness of the experienced engineers to share this, is immense.

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