IT Hardware Buyer Review

My job title is IT hardware buyer. I process hardware orders, placed by our salespeople, with our distributors with the aim of getting as many orders out for next day delivery to our customers. My daily tasks involve placing the orders that are aligned to my sales teams, answering queries on these orders, chasing older orders and booking orders in for invoicing. I mostly interact with the Softcat sales people and our aligned account managers at our distributors. My responsibilities include mentoring the newer members of the team, looking after our international business and working on our current bonded stock project.

I have a gained a lot of skills since joining Softcat and starting my apprenticeship. I have gained my apprenticeship in business admin (level 3), been on mentoring courses and have completed a training course in export licencing. I have improved on my communication, time management and organisation skills from completing the apprenticeship

I enjoyed my programme but it did start off quite unorganised from the training provider as it was the first time we had done the business admin qualification - but once some issues were ironed out, it became much easier to communicate and easier to understand what was needed. Softcat were very supportive throughout the whole apprenticeship and it was always made sure that it was the priority in my job role. They helped with escalations to the training provider and they also made sure the type of work given to me was applicable to the coursework for the apprenticeship.

Softcat always strives to make their employees feel valued - especially those in admin roles. We get lots of recognition internally via the 'love' email sent out weekly, employee of the month awards, feedback to our managers, 'Admin Day' and admin of the week award. Softcat always give you the opportunities to get involved in different projects - for example, I am currently working on the process and arrangements we have in place for bonded stock which is a process that needs a complete overhaul so that we can make sure we're giving the best service to our customers as well as complying with auditing procedures. I am also part of the International Team which handles all shipments outside of the EU and handle all exporting requirements for Softcat.

As I have said the programme started off fairly unorganised - mainly down to the fact that it was a new concept of doing the business admin apprenticeships with Softcat having only done IT sales apprenticeships previously. After about 2 months it drastically improved and we had weekly meetings in the office with out training provider and Softcat training team to discuss coursework, look at marked work and help with any ongoing issues. We also had some training sessions such as training on excel which was great for me as I had no previous excel experience.

At first, the support was not great. But after this was flagged and discussed we managed to get a much more dedicated service from the training provider. They were almost always available to speak over the phone about coursework issues or questions. If not, email response was great. The rate of marking work also improved and this was usually marked within a week or so to help us apprentices keep on top on what we still needed to do to complete the course.

I couldn't have asked for Softcat to be more supportive, they were brilliant. We had a dedicated apprentice lead so they were almost always on hand to help with any problems. My team leaders and mentor were also very supportive and hands on with helping with the work. They had suggestions of work that I could apply to the course work and always made sure I had the time to complete the coursework.

I was very satisfied with my apprentice salary and was able to factor the cost in accordingly

There are lots of opportunities to socialise outside of work We have a Softcat Netball team that plays competitively every week - that has been a really good chance to make new friends at work. We also have lots of company events that allow us to get together outside of work such as; financial year whole company kick off, Christmas parties, end of year parties and team night outs.

Yes

I would recommend Softcat because of how well the employees are valued and treated, I never dread coming to work. All the hard work you put in for Softcat is definitely rewarded and the management really appreciate the work you have done. There's also lots of opportunities for development, which as an apprentice means you are really getting ahead of the game in terms of the job ladder.

Be prepared to be yourself. Softcat is all about letting your true personality shine so no need to prepped with lots of complex answers. It is a 4 stage process; phone interview, assessment day, interview with team leader, interview with director/manager. If successful - there is 3 weeks training to get you fully up to speed with the company where you can get to know Softcat properly and all the people you will be working with