Commercial Support Manager Review

I am the Commercial Support Manager at the Premier Foods financial shared services centre. My team are responsible for processing commercial funding of promotional activities in stores, and also pricing queries. Our key customers are the sales and marketing teams in Premier Foods, and I personally work closely with our general accounts and commercial finance teams to manage the P&L. I am responsible for approving claims and am an escalation point for the team if they are not getting any traction from the sales teams. I manage a team of 8 people and am responsible for projects as well as business as usual activities. We have recently gone live on a systems upgrade which has improved our processes by introducing workflow escalations and building in DoA levels.

I have learned a lot more about the difference aspects of credit management, having done credit control in my previous roles. The key things that I have learnt are around the different types of credit - trade, export and consumer, and the steps taken when assessing credit risk. I feel that I could more confidently apply the things that I have learned within a credit role on the back of the CICM course. I have also attended a CICM course on change management, which was very insightful given that I have just rolled out a continuous improvement project.

I am really enjoying the CICM, in particular the classroom based activities. The tutor is really engaged with the class and the slides that we work are always interesting. On the back of each lesson, we are given a summary of the key points, which is really helpful. The apprenticeship side of the course, which includes 1-to-1's and coursework is also interesting, although this take more time that the classroom based activities, which I was expecting would be the opposite.

I feel valued by Premier Foods because they are investing in my future by funding this study. I think the recognition process that we have is very good, with my team have been recognised various times this year. Everyone has the opportunity to get involved with projects and use this to develop themselves. I think Premier Foods develops people by recruiting internally for upcoming positions, where possible. This has happened twice in my team in the least year, where Associates have moved onto another role within the company on the back of their funded study and involvement in initiatives within the team.

The programme is very well structured on the classroom based side, with slides and notes provided in every class. It is always clear what we are required to do at the end of the class in preparation for the following session. The tutor is very supportive and provides feedback on homework. I feel the apprenticeship side is less formal, with sessions scheduled less frequently, but on a face to face basis.

The training provider is very supportive and the classroom tutor always makes herself available for any questions. When we see our tutor on the apprenticeship side of the course, he is also very supportive and suggests what we should focus on to build our CICM portfolios.

My employer is supportive of the study that I am doing, and it has been agreed that I will have 7.35 hours per week to focus on study related items as part of the CICM apprenticeship. I am discussing how my time can be better managed so that I am able to dedicate this time to study on a weekly basis. I am currently struggling to find any time to focus on study during the working week. However, this is not because my employer does not support the study, it is due to the time of year and and business as usual demands - year end close, PDR's, project roll out.

The study is completely paid for by my employer, as such this completely covers any costs.

Premier Foods also organise activities outside of work, and there are a lot of charity events that take place. The company makes a real effort to get everyone engaged and there are events which recognise the hard work that everyone has done - for example, the half year party that is coming up. There have been several away days where you could get involved with homeless and animal charities and plenty of fun things to do in the office. PBS is a good place to work

Yes

Recognition and organising of social activities. Level of investment that the company puts into people

Prepare for the interview by learning about Premier Foods and our values, which are really important to the company. be prepared for competency based questions