R&D Apprentice Review

I am responsible for the Price Claims process within the Tesco team, which involves updating and maintaining our Price Claims Tracker and then dealing with these Price Claims. Internally I am involved in many meetings held within the Tesco which occur on a daily basis. However, I have much less interactions externally as external interactions involve sending sample but this does not occur every day. I am also involved with a project which is looking to improve the area where the Tesco team, in terms of providing information on the screen that is in our area.

I have learnt many new skills as well as developed existing skills. At the beginning of the programme I attended many internal training sessions which taught me lot about how the business worked as a whole. I also attended external training courses with Tesco to learn how to use their systems. I believe I have also learnt many new I.T skills and developed the existing I.T skills I already had although these skills were very limited. I now feel a lot more confident with my I.T as well as my professional skills. I feel I have learnt the essential skills to work in a business such as organisational and presentation skills. However I feel that it is mainly my I.T skills that have been improved and developed since joining Unilever.

I enjoy it very much. The work is challenging, which is good as I get to experience a lot of different ways of working. The team is great, couldn't ask for a more supportive manager and department. The company really looks after its employees and wants to further its employee learning. I enjoy working here

Personally, I get lots of appreciation form my manager if I have completed a task to a certain standard. With my involvement in our Tesco team Commercial Executives project I believe them I am being internally recognised. I was picked to lead the project by other members of the team, suggesting that I have been internally recognised. I know valued within my team, but less so by Unilever as a whole as it is so huge!

My current Level four project management course is still a fairly fresh concept within the apprenticeship world therefore my training provider is flexible to my needs and expectations to how the programme should be structured to me. I am happy with the organisation of my programme so far but i have hit a few bumps along the way. Overall pretty good.

The support I receive from my training provider is a lot more irregular than the support I receive from my line manager. I occasionally meet with my training provider in which I am able to discuss any issues or problems I may be facing. Although we do not meet that often my training provider is able to resolve any issues I may have and always shows a supportive attitude towards me.

My manager is great, anything I need she will try and help out in some way. HR used to be a lot more involved with our apprenticeship but now that our contact has left the company I don't really feel like we are supported in any way by HR as we are seen as an outside entity. We have our own supervisor in Stafforce who is more than helpful.

I have to pay for my phone bill, car insurance and also pay rent every month. I travel 26 miles to work including the journey there and the journey back, this means that I have to spend money on petrol on a weekly basis. However, once these have all been paid for I still do have money left over which I am then able to use for social costs. Before I started the programme I was hoping to save more money then I currently am, but that is probably due to the fact that I need to try a bit harder!

There are many career opportunities and employers outside of work that are interested in candidates that have apprenticeship experiences. Having completed my level 3 part of the apprenticeship I now understand that all the knowledge I have gained can apply to any industry. The apprentices, along with myself do try and organise some social events outside of work as well.

Yes

I would recommend Unilever to friend as all employees are treated really well as it is obvious the employers care for their employees. The ethos at Unilever is really encouraging and everyone is friendly and welcoming. Unilever is also such a huge company therefore it is easy to gain experience which will be useful for the future.

An apprenticeship opportunity is completely what you make of it. I would recommend that if you are a bright and ambitious individual who needs support in reaching their potential to then apply. Neither age or ability should be considered as an issue when applying. Once you are on-board I would just advise to ask as many questions as possible once you start your role so that you can understand it fully.