Commercial Executive, Cabinet Operations Executive & ICNow Apprentice. Review

I have 3 roles in my day to day job which is in the Ice Cream Sector of Unilever. Commercial Executive Apprentice - involved in the movement of money, completing forms for accruing money for deals, paying invoices helping account managers (salesmen/saleswomen) of the group with financial status and information. Create Stock and Sales Weekly Report which expressed the performance of each account and helps account managers forecast an amount of volume of goods the account may require. Cabinet Operations Executive Apprentice - Process requests for freezer cabinets that are FOL (Free on Loan), create contracts and draft up ROI (return on investments for each site that requests a FOL freezer cabinet. ICNow (Ice Cream Now) Apprentice - customer service for all 80+ accounts, replenishment for each site. Financial support sub-account manager. Creating a new system to take on this project, creating 100s of invoices daily. A lot of awesome, super fun, busy work. Then there is the apprentice work on the side which has to take up at least 1 day of the working week.

My understanding of business and work ethic have improved even beyond how good they were before. i have learnt a lot about financial movements within Unilever and a lot of Unilever specific things. I have developed my skills in Microsoft operations (e.g. Excel). i have developed all the previous skills that i have to great extents, some of which i have impressed myself by being able to do so. i learnt how to interact with customers i have learnt how to continuously progress even though my managers think that i push myself way too hard but the proof is in the pudding as the work quality in every body of work i present is exceptional (not my words). Nothing significant in the apprentice side of work apart from how to stretch out essays to several pages so that i don;t have the fear of "not making it clear enough" (not my words).

I love everything about the team i work in (ice cream) my team is outstandingly awesome and i get along with everyone really well. i'm in awe of everything Unilever offers and the roles which i have been given have quite a lot of responsibility and are important. I have meetings with global leaders and high up executives which is awesome and exciting. i have Skype calls with Unilever employees abroad and even though i'm an apprentice i have trained a couple people. Everything about the job side is amazing and i love it, words can;t describe how good it is. I get along really well with all other apprentices too. The apprentice work...really ruins it. Its boring, trivial and mandatory work that has to be done. If it wasn't for the job role at Unilever, i would have pursued a different career path.

Everything is super reactive especially in my roles so i have to put in effort to be proactive which is a lot of hard work but i enjoy it a lot and my superiors are impressed by my work ethic, commitment and enthusiasm as well as the qualitative work i present. The apprentice exam dates are unclear even though they're in a couple months time. There are crazy busy peaks in my work were i sometimes pull 12 hour shifts (voluntarily of course - legally they're not allowed to ask you to work a minute longer than the 8 hours) and sometimes there is literally nothing to do in which i have to find someway to keep myself busy as if you're seen as messing about (in any occupation), outside of break, it's really bad.

My employer supports me by having meetings with me every couple of weeks as i haven't requested that much support right now, i'm not really able to give a fair representation but at the initiation of the apprenticeship there were slight issues with salary and HMRC tax stuff which i received a lot of support to fix. My host employer, including my line manager, are extremely supportive and they show that they really do care about each individual employee which is amazing and absolutely brilliant. The apprentice work support is, sad to say, very little. However, it has somewhat become a lot better. It's sort of like the incline option on treadmill, it's starting to improve slowly.

Very little at most times to an extent which is scary. I have had to chase up some of them for a lot of things. i feel like the only way i would get my qualification (at a pass with distinction) is through sheer, extreme amounts of work which i have been putting in. It really is all depending on you.

There are some aspects In which my training provider assists me in my role. The relevance is low due to the fact that the questions have to be a broad question to fit many different criteria. However, it does help with understanding deadlines and why it is imperative to meet them. It also teaches that some aspects of work may not be always exciting but are crucial for the role. There were some business models which would also help one go about their day to day role such as the “BOSCARD” the “OSCAR Model” and the “STAR” Model. The difficulty of the work is not too difficult to begin with but it somewhat increase a as one progresses through the qualification. There was some great leaps in difficulty between the earliest coursework and the last couple of ones. Though the work may not always be met with enthusiasm, it is essential and it will help your host employer, employer and course trainer understand your recognition of your organisation.

Yes. There are constantly challenges like Netball tournament (which my team is in the final for) the pedometer challenge, gatherings etc. There are a lot of things to do and little of it is pointless admin work. Every once in a while the apprentices plan a gathering for drinks or just a social event.

Yes

In this survey i have written multiple times that the fact that the apprenticeship is with Unilever is the only reason why i am still in it. 1) amazing, top end company - great for CV and future prospects 2) they don't give apprentices pointless work, they give them work that is actually important and that matters 3) the company really cares for all aspects of welfare for their employees 4) everyone is awesome 5) work atmosphere and the office is smart causal so not so corporate/boring 6) you're VALUED and they care about you no matter how insufferable you may be with questions. 7) even though as an apprentice i am technically a non-employee i still feel like i'm part of Unilever and I would aspire to get a job here too.

be enthusiastic be motivated be hard working be yourself always look to improve and progress be good at interviews be brave/confident communicate well ask for help when needed don't be shy have passion have imitative, be innovative carry out your responsibiliies be fond of pioneering be respectful speak out about your ideas, don't be scared!!!!