Commercial Apprentice Review

The role of commercial apprentice within Nestle involves rotating in four 6-month placements in different key business functions: Supply Chain, HR, Marketing and Sales. Within these six month placements, commercial apprentices get given real day-to-day responsibilities and projects from day 1. In Supply Chain, I took on the role of Customer Demand Planner within the Nutrition business, in HR Learning & Development Coordinator, and in Marketing Assistant Brand Manager for the Maggi brand. I am currently in my last placement in Sales working in the Convenience Customer Business Team across the Food and Beverage divisions. Throughout these placements I have met and interacted collaboratively with a wide range of people working across different businesses and functions. An example of a project I led within my Marketing placement was the addition of ratings and reviews to all products on the Maggi website; I had to work with both internal teams and external agencies to get this from start to finish.

I feel that I have developed many practical skills through the varied experience I have had the opportunity to work in so far; but equally a lot of personal skills as well. Besides having experience of jobs in different departments and teams, I have attended trainings and inductions in each of the functions I have worked in, giving me a very good knowledge and understanding of how each of these works together to make the business work as a whole. Through interactions and collaborative relationships with both internal and external teams, I have also developed personally in terms of maturity and confidence, constantly being around and working with people who are older and more experienced than me. Having the opportunity to study at Sheffield Hallam university as part of the sponsored degree is a bonus as this allows me to learn the theory behind business and then apply it directly in practice in the workplace.

I have no regrets about choosing this path since leaving school; at first I had applied for normal university to study very generic ‘Business’ or ‘Management with Marketing’ – I really wasn’t sure what I actually wanted to study. After I heard about this programme and applied and got it, I was hesitant between the offers I had got from full-time universities, and this one. I had never heard of anything like it before, and it seemed almost too good to be true – a job that earned me a very good salary, experience in different functions before I had to pick what it was I wanted to do, and at the same time a sponsored degree at Sheffield Hallam, giving me the benefit of university as well without the worry of debt at the end of it. I was worried I would miss out on the university experience a lot, but being 2 years into the scheme now I am extremely pleased with the choice I made and wouldn’t go back; I feel as though I have developed as an individual and in terms of skills in a massive way, and when I talk to my old school friends who are at full-time uni, I feel as though I have years ahead of them and feel more mature. The culture within Nestle is unique and incredible - everyone is so friendly and welcoming, and I remember this really surprising me from the day I came in to do the interviews to get into this programme. I have had the chance to work in great teams and with great people, and I love the other apprentices on the scheme, those who I go university with, and who share my experience with me - it feels as though we are a little family.

Commercial apprentices within Nestle are generally very widely valued – there is a lot of focus on our development and training; this shows especially through the partnership with Nestle and Sheffield Hallam where our courses at university are specially designed and tailored for us, and nobody else. In the workplace we are given ‘buddies’ in the year above who can guide and help us through any informal questions or worries we may have as they have been through the same thing, and we equally have workplace mentors, more senior people within the business who help us talk about our long term development. As we swap roles every 6 months for the first 2 years, we have 4 different line managers through these 2 years, and each line manager in my experience has made me feel part of the team, stretched me and trusted me with important tasks and projects. I have also felt valued through the Recognition Scheme where points are awarded for exceptional work and subsequently these points can be used to purchase gifts.

This is the fifth year that the programme has been running since its conception, and therefore it has become increasingly well organised and structured after taking learnings from four years and thoughts of apprentices who have been through the scheme. When I first started in September 2016, the first week consisted of a training/development week at an external location with other apprentices and grads who were starting at the same time – here we received a thorough induction into the business, what the culture was like, what to expect, and spent the week getting familiar with it and the people – we even had a couple of senior leaders come in and talk to us. It was a great way to start and the team building activities throughout left me feeling excited and energised about coming to work the next week. In terms of university, this is extremely well structured in partnership with Sheffield Hallam as we follow a programme of modules each year, with different lecturers and different assessments. The weeks and modules are given to us in advance so that we can plan around them as attendance is compulsory. Even though we don’t see the lecturers anymore after we finish their modules, we are given the opportunity to email/call them to ask for feedback on assessments and any other guidance we might need. In the workplace, there is also a lot of support not only from your line manager, but your mentor, the team who look after the apprenticeship, and colleagues as well as the other apprentices. Each rotation into new functions is also managed very well internally, and we are given a variety of challenging and interesting experiences through these roles.

The way our modules at university are structured, we often only see lecturers for one week for a particular module, and then never see them again. This means that it can be quite difficult to keep in touch with them, or to feel comfortable asking them for guidance in the future unless you developed a good relationship with them within the one week. In general though, all the lecturers I have had have been incredibly supportive within the week and encouraging us to email/phone them in case we needed any further help and support later on, and they usually give us very good support resources including reading lists, module guides and links to presentations/videos during the week anyway, so further support is not often needed. The only build I would have on this is that there is not much support in terms of academic writing i.e. for all the essays we write as part of assessment in each module. When we get given feedback afterwards, it is usually specific and relevant only to that particular module, so doesn’t really help in terms of developing better academic writing skills, which I feel like I haven’t really learnt yet.

There is so much support from day 1 within the business, that I felt welcome and comfortable before I even started working at Nestle. Line managers are key contacts within each placements as they are responsible for inducting and bringing you up to speed on the responsibilities and ways of working in their particular functions and departments, and for making sure you are comfortable in the workplace and helping with future career aspirations as well as checking in on the university side of things. The team who manage apprentices within Nestle (the Academy) are very supportive and helpful if there is ever a problem or situation where we are unsure who to talk to about. The general attitude from all colleagues in the business towards commercial apprentices is very open, welcoming and friendly, and from my experience they are all keen to see us develop and to help in any way they can, even if this means taking time outside their day to day roles to do it.

The starting salary already got me thinking that it was a very good scheme, but since being on the programme I have seen it increase through salary reviews and bonuses, which has been great. The fact that we do not have to pay for university makes this even more amazing. However, I would expect to be on a significantly higher salary once having finished the 3 years on the scheme.

Since joining Nestle I have gotten involved with a lot of charity work with their partner Macmillan – I was part of a project team which organised a charity sale of personalised gifts across Nestle sites, which ended up fundraising a lot of money and gained engagement and awareness across the country. I also did the Macmillan Thames Path Mighty Hike last summer with some colleagues in the business, this was an extremely rewarding experience – challenging in that we had to walk a marathon, but very satisfying to have done it and been sponsored for such a great cause. Also, there are gym facilities available within the office, which I love using on a daily basis and regularly sign up to classes as well. It is very flexible working, so during the day I like to get up from my desk and go to the gym, and then come back and continue working. This makes it a very relaxed and feel-good environment.

Yes

Although I haven’t had experience from another large multinational organisation, I think that Nestle is really a one of a kind employer in terms of its unique culture and scale. It is a company that is based on good values: nutrition, health and wellness, and therefore cares that its employees live and breathe these very things. Not only is it an extremely successful, global corporation with a wealth of great leaders and employees from diverse backgrounds, it is also a home and makes me feel part of a family, for example with my fellow apprentices as well as in some of the teams and departments that I have worked in. In terms of apprenticeships, I have been almost overwhelmed with the amount of encouragement and support there is for people who are inexperienced, just left school, but Nestle has really invested in our training and development and this has played such an important role in my life.

I would say that throughout the application process, it is important that applicants be themselves, be honest, and not try to answer the questions with what they think Nestle want to hear. Nestle want to hire them based on who they are; of course skills and competencies are important but it is more important to be genuine. For the programme that I am on, the application and interview process is tough, but this is to be expected considering how much is being invested in us now. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the on boarding experience, and even when I came in for the interviews I was made to feel at ease by the friendliness and open culture of the company.