Product Quality Assessor Review

- I am responsible for ensuring quality in all our products - I work closely with NPD on new product launches and trials - I am involved in customer visits - I run daily quality panels where different departments and mangers attend - we look at a range of our products and scoring them against our specifications. Any fails actions will be given out to the relevant people in order to prevent the same issues reoccurring. - I am involved in benchmarking where we review our products against competitors

- I have developed my communication skills - I have to communicate and trend the daily panel results to the business and any actions I have to speak to the relevant people to ensure these are dealt with in a timely manner - I have also learnt time management - I am working full time and studying towards a degree in Food Science so I need to be able to manage my time effectively in order to get all my tasks completed on time

- I started on my programme in September 2017 - for the first year I spent 4 months in different departments (QA, RMT, Tech Services, Process) - all four departments are very different so through this first year I developed a wide range of skills and met most people within the business. This made it exciting for me but a challenge at the same time which made it enjoyable. - I my second year I got made permanent and took on the role of Product Quality Assessor. I really enjoy my role as everyday is different which makes it exciting. While working full time I am also studying towards a degree in Food Science and Technology - this is a challenge for me.

- When I first started my first year I got given a programme of what I was doing every month, when I was moving department, my learning objectives and my projects etc. This made it easy for me to know what I had to achieve and by when so it was very well organised.

- My manager is very supportive of making sure I take the set time a week (20%) to study and work towards my degree. We have regular meetings to make sure that I am on track and not struggling. - I also have a work mentor which I can talk to about any problems I have with work or study's. We have meetings every month to make sure I am getting on okay.

- I have a mentor at University who always keeps in touch with me via email. He makes sure that I am on track with my University work in order to get in completed on time and to make sure that I am not struggling with anything. We have regular meetings throughout the year in which my workplace mentor and manager get to see too.

- I am studying towards a degree in Food Science and Technology - through my degree we cover a wide range o modules such as food preservation, nutrition health and diet, food commodities and packaging systems. So far I have gained a wide range of knowledge which I can apply to my everyday role.

- We have a wellbeing week usually in October where for the whole week there is a wide range of activities to take part in such as cake baking, music lessons, dance classes etc. - We also do a wide range of activities to raise money for charity such as car washes, bake sales etc.

Yes

There is a wide range of benefits from working at Bakkavor. The apprenticeship pay at Bakkavor is way above the minimum wage, you get a good amount of holiday and the ability to buy more each year, we get free Christmas dinners, ice creams and fish and chips every year. We also have a website called my bargains where you can get discount off a wide range of things such as shopping, restaurants, cinema, hotels etc.

When applying for the apprenticeship scheme you will have to go through an assessment centre - this will involve a group activity and a one to one interview as well as lots of other activities throughout the day. My advice is to just be yourself and make sure you contribute as well as listen to ideas.