Sales and Marketing Assistant Review

I have a varied role in sales and marketing. It has taken a while to develop this workload as before I focused mainly on sales support which had little work. I still complete sales support for my team, as well as varied communications/marketing tasks with business partners.

The only training I have had thus far is a 1 day course in Social Selling which was very helpful in my role, however was still only the fundamentals which without sales context and skills is difficult to fully put in to practice. I have developed generic working skills such as communication, understanding of business environment etc however do feel more training could be provided in developing more specific sales and marketing skills relevant to my role.

I enjoy meeting people daily within the business and externally too, such as business partners and learning from these people. I enjoy working with my team and I enjoy the majority of tasks within my role although I feel I would enjoy it more if I felt better trained and equipped, with more challenging tasks and increased responsibility.

My manager always ensures she shows appreciation for the work I complete, as do my small team. However, outside of that I don't feel I am able to contribute properly yet and so don't expect to feel valued. IBM is a huge company and there is little time to recognise the majority of apprentices.

Induction was well organised and structured. Since then it seems like there is a definite lack of structure and you are pretty much just expected to get going. Whilst appreciating this is what the world of work is like, we are only apprentices and I don't feel this unstructured approach aids learning and development as it leaves it completely up to where you are in the business as to what support/training you receive, if any. Seems like luck of the draw with some apprentices being fully fledged withing 4 months and others still not really knowing what they are doing.

Academic support is okay, and we are assigned a specific tutor as an advisor. There is interest in making sure we do well. However it can be slow to get a response and generally, although the response may be sympathetic, they are unable to help or solve issues.

Mentors have been exceptional, great role models with a lot of wisdom and advice. Dedicated manager for personal career also brilliant and arrangements were made to help me when personal circumstances affected work.

Previously, when based in London, salary left me with £6 a day after rent and travel costs. Salary only covered the most basic of needs meaning work/life balance was deduced as unable to afford a social life/activities. Since moving back north, salary is sufficient to cover costs and have a decent work/life balance however there is a distinct career sacrifice that comes with this when the company is largely based in London and surrounding areas, with a large proportion of training taking place there and also apprentices and team members being based there.

Plenty of opportunities outside of work to get involved in careers fairs/school activities/volunteer projects etc etc. However, these are largely centered in and around London which is very restrictive.

Yes

Whilst I feel there are many downfalls in the apprenticeship program, IBM is a great company to work for, I just think it takes a lot longer to get anywhere as it is such a large company, however I'm sure a little patience with the program will pay off in the long run once qualified.

It's not all about grades. You have to be a bit different and determined, as you have to be determined to get anywhere once on the program too. Tech/computer knowledge is not necessary even though it is a tech company.