Commercial Degree Apprentice Review

My role is a commercial support role and so I assist the sales team on a day to day. My main jobs will involve putting through orders that need head office authorisation, ensuring the field team have everything they need (e.g. products, knowledge about products etc). I also often co-operate with our other teams such as marketing so they have an understanding of what the team are doing and how they can assist them etc. I am also required to so do some analysis from time to time. I also will answer general enquires from my team or other members of L'Oreal.

I have learnt how to conduct myself more around my colleagues and also important customers etc, this is something that comes fairly naturally but its not just about being polite, you need to know when to make a joke or when to sit and listen, these are all important. I have also furthered my sales skills working here, I already had sales experience but since being here I have been out with the sales team as well as conducting my own sales and telesales.

On a whole my experience working here has been fantastic. The culture of L'Oreal is one that is very relaxed and nurturing but there is also an underlining standard that almost everybody adheres to which makes sure things get done still. I have had moments of being bored with nothing to do but that only makes up for the moments where I've been extremely busy and have been working way past office hours, this doesn't really bother me though.

Unfortunately the structure of the programme is a bit loose. I believe this to be because I am part of on of the first intakes of degree apprentices. The degree and study aspect of the programme is very rigorous and easy to follow, however the day to day job can sway a bit and people do start to forget that you are an apprentice and so you may end up with no time on your hands on occasion.

My line manager is fantastic as she is always looking to support me in anyway I can and I don't feel as if I can't go to her with a problem. L'Oreal themselves do have lots of support systems in place that are available to employees, this makes me feel as if the support is there even if I don't need to use it.

My training provider, Pearson College London, are a very driven organisation that want nothing but to see those they are training succeed. They have a very positive environment and have meetings with us quarterly to check on how we are doing but we are also able to speak to our designated tutors or course leaders etc whenever we want. In my first year I experienced various issues personally and Pearson were very good at accommodating for this.

I have always been a bit skeptical about the relevance of a lot of degrees on your actual job and again I don't currently see much relation between what I am being taught as to what I do on my day to day. I do believe that this may be because a lot of what I am being taught by Pearson will become much more relevant to me once I am in a more managerial role.

L'Oreal does offer things such as yoga classes etc. I also believe that there may be sports teams and social events that occur but I don't seem to know about these or where to find out about them. I'm not sure why this is the case but for the sports teams especially it seems like you need to know somebody else in the team to get any information which doesn't make it feel very open.

Yes

L'Oreal overall is an excellent company to do an apprenticeship with as it gives you invaluable experience which can accompany any other qualifications to really help you in your career. They themselves also seem to really promote growth of their employees and so once you are in with them it does feel like you can push yourself to grow 'through the ranks' to reach a role that you are interested in.

The application process is no joke, it is an extremely contested apprenticeship schemes with literally thousands of applicants. If you are applying you need to really consider what it is about you that is going to make L'Oreal want to hire you over anybody else and then really sell that. You also need to be committed to the lifestyle that this will bring, studying for a degree and doing a job like this is not an easy task as you will find yourself being very busy and possibly very stressed, but if you can handle that it is definitely worth it for your CV and for your personal growth as a professional person.