HR Apprentice Review

My first placement is within the Central Operations team in HR. This role involves supporting the CSC (Customer Support Centre) where 600 people work answering calls from our customers. My team design and deliver the training for the staff in the CSC. I have recently been supporting a project focusing on career pathways and how people in the CSC could develop and manage their own careers showing them all opportunities available.

I have only been in the business for a month, so I am still settling in. However I have already attending a technology training session which has improved my basis excel knowledge. During my apprenticeship with Boots I will gain a foundation degree level diploma in Business and Administrative Management. This will involve coursework based assignments as well as completing my NVQ. In the short time I have been with Boots I can already see myself developing as a person and my confidence is gradually coming along. Having the support from my team really helps this.

The work load of this apprenticeship programme is something I really enjoy. I am challanged with the tasks I am given which is what I need. I have been set mini projects to focus on from my first week which I have became really engaged with. My team which I have been put in are all very supportive and acceptive of the apprenticeship programme and have been really helpful. My expectations have been met and I hope this continues throughout the programme.

I have recently been involved in an event called 'Let's Inspire' about getting young people into the work place. I was eager to help with this and my help was noticed and appreciated which made me feel great. The woman who asked for my support in this event emailed both me and my manager saying what a good job I had done to which my line manager congratulated me. This made me feel very valued by boots. I also recieved a Boots 'scratch card' for this, where I won 250 advantage card points to which I was very happy!

The apprenticeship programme is very well structured. We recieved a 2 day induction which helped us feel relaxed as an apprenticeship team and get to know each other well. We was also able to speak to past apprentices which really helped as they shared their experiences with us. We met several people throughout our induction process which helped me build a good network to support me through my first weeks. The programme was structured well, we went out to complete a 2 month store placement before starting at the Support Office which ran smoothly. My line manager came out to store to check my progress which shows how supportive the programme is.

I haven't started my college course yet. I have met my tutor to enroll at college and she seems lovely and supportive. She is approachable and has spoke fondly of the apprenticeship programme here at Boots and how eager she is to help. I have her details as well so if i have any questions before i start or if i needed help suring the course she has given me her email address for me to send her a message if i needed too. This is helpful for before i have even started my course! Very hapy currently with the amount of help and support.

My team seem very supportive of me since I have started the programme. They are all eager to help and want to understand what it is the apprenticeship programme is about. I have applied for a buddy/mentor in another area of Boots as I believe this will be benefical for me to get somebody elses perspective on tasks I am struggling with. Support is available for me at any time if I need it from a number of different people. Overall pretty happy with the support i get from my employer.

I was initally very happy with the salary of this apprenticeship. The location of work isn't too far from home, but due to road/tram works at the minute this is taking me longer to get to work and therefore more travel costs. Overall I am managing comfortably on the wage that Boots provides and i am really hopeful that in the future this will increase as i work my way through the apprenticeship and even possibly and eventually increasing more through full time employment with them!

As I am new to the business I haven't yet experienced events out of work. I have recently been invited to an apprenticeship night out where the 2016 intake meet with the 2015 and 2014 intake to get to know each other better. As Boots is big on charity work, especially supporting Macmillian - I would be able to get involved with any charity fundraising whenever I wanted which is great and also helps me understand different parts of the company more and their aspirations for their employees and their overall aim with supporting charities.

Yes

I would recommend Boots to a friend without a shadow of a doubt. The opportunities this company has to offer are endless. The support I have recieved, and the fact that I get paid to study whilst I am working is amazing. This programme was a god send to me as it offered me everything I wanted in one package. The personal growth and career growth I will be able to recieve from this company is huge. Overall i would highly reccomend it as the support, experience and overall company is really amazing.

I would advise other people applying to the apprenticeship programme to plan thoroughly before the assessment day. I fortunatley did this, however am aware of some people that did not. The whole process is very nerve wracking - but I'd tell people applying to try and relax as much as possible as all of the people/interviewers/pastapprentices that I met during interview and assessment days was so nice they made me very relaxed. Creativity is key for the assessment day. Think outside the box.