Supply Chain Practitioner Review

in my current role, i am working in Procurement. I am working on a waste project called Waste Not Want Not. A typical day in the office would include, checking emails, attending project meetings, hosting the MOR (monthly operational review) with all of the factories at Nestle, chasing actions and also most importantly closing out actions and showing the savings in the system. My experience of this role so far is a 5/10 as it is a lot of chasing people on actions along side emailing multiple times for explanations. So based on this i rate this role 5/10. Other roles i have done have been in the factory which was an operational role and i really enjoyed this role due to feeling valued and having a 'real role.

Working for Nestle, I have had many opportunities to work on new Skills and develop existing skills. New skills i have is effective communication and being able to communicate quicker to get an answer to ensure that I get what I need on time to ensure supply into the factory. I was able to develop skills like leadership in all of my roles as i was able to lead our operational reviews. This pushed me out of my comfort zone as I am not that confident in front of large groups of people.

my Apprenticeship is 3 years with 3 roles of 1 year each. I believe this is such a great opportunity as I am able to experience 3 different areas of Supply Chain within a 3 year period. I have working in Pack Change which looked after all the packaging changes working closely with marketing and sales, Inbound Supply Coordinator at our Tutbury Factory working in the coffee industry, I ordered materials for the site. I needed to ensure we had all of the correct stock on site at the right time to ensure the lines were running at the correct efficiency. and finally currently working in Procurement. I have found this role the hardest to enjoy due to being project based and managing my own time. I enjoy the people but I have found the role hard to understand and manage. this is why i have rated this at 8/10.

My two previous placements I have felt have been really well structured. I had a clear induction plan and 3 month and 6 month plans. I found these very useful as this allowed me to understand where i needed to be against my targets. I had a manager who was able to spend lots of time with me explain all the processes which helped me to understand what was required and helped me learn the role in the most effective way possible. My final role had very little structure and very little induction, so for this reason i have given 8/10 as I feel that I have been let down in my final year on scheme.

Line Manager - at Nestle in each role i have had a line manager. I am able to use them for support for work related issues as well as for help with things outside of my role. This allows me to put my trust in them for inductions into my role, understand my development areas i wish to improve as well as helping me with issues such as difficulties within my role. I am also able to lean on my Apprentice Leader who i am able to use for support with issues/ concerns with my role.

I currently send every 1 week in 6 at college with the training provider for an intense week of learning. This is a week jam packed with knowledge in line with the training standard. I get assigned work each week which needs to be in within 3 weeks after the date given. These are always on different topics, I.e. Procurement, so throughout this week we learn Procurement tasks and information in order me to complete the tasks. Others within the class are also able to bring their knowledge to the class in order for the whole class to share experiences. Which personally for me, I find this really helpful and helps me to formulate real life examples from others learnings.

Due to my role being 1 year in the same job, depending on the week we are learning depends if I find the qualification helpful to my role. E.g. I am currently working in Procurement so the week at college we did learning about Procurement I found really helpful and interesting. Some weeks when we are learning about a topic I am not familiar with it is good to learn different things, however sometimes hard to relate back to my current role. Overall I feel that the work I learn at college is helpful to my role and future at Nestle.

In two of ,my placements i have been involved in team sports outside of work. this helped me to strength my relationships with my teams outside of work. I was able to get to know them on a more personal level rather than always speaking about work. I found this really helpful as the environment was more relaxed and easy for me to get to know my new team. I believe now that i have moved on from some of these placements I have kept in contact with most of the team as i got on well with them on a more personal level rather than just purely work. I have attended other social events such as Apprenticeship open evenings at schools in York, where I have attended on behalf of Nestle to speak about the Apprenticeships which we offer and what a typical day in the life of an apprentice at Nestle is. I think Nestle are very good at extra activities as they are very keen on building effective working relationships!

Yes

I would recommend nestle to a friend, as my experience of the company so far has been a really positive one, i have grown as a person both at work becoming more confident as well as outside of work too. I have met friends who I believe will be friends for life. Nestle are keen to grown my career and make sure I am the best version of myself and want me to achieve my highest potential. As well as this Nestle above most other providers pay higher in apprenticeships which I think is also a great benefit to work here.

Make sure you know the company, what they believe in, their environmental views. Also if possible I would advise speaking to one of the apprentices already working for the company in order for them to share their knowledge of what to expect from an interview, a typical day at Nestle. I would also attend open evenings at Nestle so you can see what jobs Nestle offer and this gives potential applicants the chase to speak to real Nestle employees who will be able to advise more information at Nestle.