Molly Scrivens is the Research and Development Apprentice at Worcester Bosch.
My initial role was a Business Administration Apprenticeship. I started in August 2024. While the title could suggest basic administration, my responsibilities quickly diversified to directly support our Research & Development department.
This included critical tasks like producing Declarations of Conformity, reviewing industry standards and regulations to ensure our compliance, and tracking if we are state-of-the-art, and managing R&D assets – from precise tagging and tracking to disposals. I’ve also led internal projects, such as optimising shipping processes for R&D samples and working to innovate our asset tracking system.
Overall, my role enables engineers to focus on technical innovation by reducing administrative, compliance, and operational obstacles.
My day-to-day is highly integrated with the R&D workflow. I actively manage and track R&D assets, ensuring their regulatory compliance.
A significant part of my role involves reviewing industry standards and legal frameworks to confirm our product conformity and tracking our alignment with state-of-the-art practices, which is vital for our engineering projects.
I collaborate closely with engineers to streamline their processes, facilitate access to necessary resources, and manage logistics for critical R&D components. Beyond these, I regularly engage in project work, developing and implementing solutions that enhance departmental efficiency and directly support our engineering objectives.
My apprenticeship has provided a strong foundation for my professional career. Due to the impact of COVID and extended periods of online learning during my GCSEs and much of college, I had limited access to career guidance, interview practice, and opportunities to develop communication and stakeholder-management skills in a real working environment. As a result, my experience prior to the apprenticeship was largely academic.
Since starting my apprenticeship, I have gained invaluable exposure to working with a diverse range of people across different ages, genders, roles across a global scale. This has significantly improved my communication skills, professional confidence, and ability to adapt my approach depending on the audience or stakeholder.
I have also built strong connections beyond the R&D department through initiatives such as Women in Engineering talks, HR-led activities including the trainee newsletter, and involvement in organising career events and apprentice fairs. These experiences have broadened my understanding of the wider business and enabled me to contribute value outside my immediate role.
Overall, my career development has accelerated considerably. The apprenticeship has encouraged me to take on greater responsibility and approach new opportunities with confidence, including leading meetings with senior colleagues. I have also been supported in developing a specialism in regulatory compliance, working towards an additional qualification that directly strengthens my long-term career prospects.
Alongside this, I have gained a detailed understanding of the industry, Worcester Bosch’s operations, and the relationship between engineering, innovation, and government regulation — an area of personal interest.
Since starting my apprenticeship, I’ve gained numerous skills. Initially, I built the foundational skills for my career, including communication, time management, and planning. Crucially, I’ve been given opportunities to lead my own projects. For example, I successfully resolved a complex process for shipping R&D samples. This project required cross-departmental collaboration, assigning roles, creating Gantt charts, and communicating effectively with high-impact stakeholders.
The new process has had a positive outcome, and I delivered training to the relevant personnel in the R&D team. These experiences go far beyond basic administrative tasks. Now, in my specialised compliance role, I’ve developed skills in producing critical documents, understanding standards and regulations (including tracking our state-of-the-art position), and grasping the legal impacts on our business, which in turn influences sales and market perception.
My mum was a tremendous role model who encouraged my decision to pursue an apprenticeship. At 45, she made the brave choice to go to university to study nursing. She knew what she wanted, and despite knowing it would be challenging, she pursued it for herself and to help others.
Her strength and commitment to honouring her true desires were a major influence on me. I always knew I excelled more in a working environment than purely academic settings, finding real-life skills and learning from colleagues and my own experiences more impactful.
Initially, I did a year at university studying history because, as a young woman, I felt it was the expected route. When I was making decisions about my future, apprenticeships were often portrayed as trade-focused and rarely seemed targeted at women. So, I took the path I thought I should. After that year, feeling a lack of purpose, my mum encouraged me to follow my heart, just as she had, and to invest in myself rather than just following what I believed was the only path.
Since joining the industry, my mum consistently tells me I’ve become a new person – more confident and in control. She says I’ve become more proactive and engaged, transitioning from doing things out of obligation to doing something I’m genuinely passionate about and enjoy. She observes that I feel more certain in my purpose and put less pressure on myself because I feel more secure within myself.
I believe this transformation stems from the strong support of my department colleagues, the constructive feedback from managers, and my approach to using that feedback for growth rather than defensiveness. I now want to learn more because I’m genuinely interested, not just because I must.
My advice to other women considering this industry is: Trust yourself. The women engineers in R&D here are incredibly inspiring; they confidently speak in communications meetings to the entire department, actively participate in Bosch Women meetings, and make invaluable contributions to the business. You are not “behind,” no matter how much experience you think you lack, and you possess more skills and knowledge than you realise. Your unique perspective is an asset.
I hope that my journey inspires women to step outside their comfort zones and to ensure their voices are heard. Don’t feel pressured or “behind” if you don’t follow perceived traditional societal paths. I recognised my own struggles and took a brave step into a completely new experience that has profoundly rewarded me.
I’ve evolved from someone merely helping on the sidelines to a reliable, proactive team member constantly striving to improve. I hope this demonstrates that following your genuine interests can lead to significant personal and professional growth.
