Vendor Marketing Review

Vendor Marketing Apprentice- On a day to day basis I look after 46 vendors and their internal marketing strategies. This gives me a huge responsibility, and an ability to develop my skills. This can involve me overseeing anything from their internal campaigns to digital signage. Alongside this I work on our apprenticeship work and also additional activities including Supporting Women in business and the green team.

I have learnt a huge amount already. My confidence and ability to speak to those at a higher level in the business has excelled, including communicating with directors. I also know my resilience has advanced significantly which is developed through the vast amount of responsibility and trust my manager has in me. Further this influences my passion for the job, which is another skill vital to excel in any company.

I absolutely love the programme, I feel it develops my personal skills alongside those I require in the workplace. Softcat work to ensure you are provided with everything you need to be as successful as possible, and the support you get as an apprentice is second to none. Our programme offers us an exceptional amount of extra circular activities including a week away on an outward bound trips and we are the only Apprenticeship provider to promote a cross programme project internally.

Our Programme is well organised, we have a clearly defined structure of the work we are currently completely and where we need to be in the future. This allows us to motivate ourselves for growth. We have a good level of one to ones with our external apprenticeship coach and group sessions. I also appreciate the fact that our apprenticeship covers the elements of the entire business, encouraging me to branch out of my comfort zone into other areas.

The support we receive is second to none, we not only have an apprentice manager on our team but also a designated learning and development apprentice lead. They appreciate we are new into the working environment, so not only is our education important to them but our personal wellbeing and how well we are dealing with the transition from school to the workplace.

We receive a whole lot of support from regular 121s and group sessions. Our DC coach is always available wether that’s a simple question about our work or coaching support. They are great at ensuring our workload is fair and will extend deadlines if needed, this is greatly received from us apprentices.

My qualification encourages me to develop all my skills, a lot of it is networking. This is vital in my role to ensure I know how sales works, but it also builds my confidence at the same time. It assists me in understanding personal aspects too, such as coaching and teamwork.

There are copious amounts of activities. This includes our Cross Programme project, which allows us to bring around one initiate within our teams that Softcat can continue to use. Not only does this give us a great amount of responsibility but also the opportunity to network with those at a director level. We also went on an outward bounds trip, and we get regular Apprentice Kick Offs, which are all types of activities.

Yes

Softcat is an amazing place to work, whether your an apprentice or not. If you do come in as an apprentice they do not treat you as one which is motivating in itself, but allows you to transition quicker and smoother to the workplace. They offer a great amount of support that benefits everyone in the business.

Do it. It’s a great company to start in, and all apprentices will support this. If they need advice we have a wide network of people willing to assist, therefore find someone on socials who works here and speak to them about. It opens up a whole lot of opportunities.