Commercial Apprentice Review

Currently I am working as a Regional Sales Development Manager (this is a field sales role). My role involves visiting and working with some of our wholesale and convenience customers. Essentially the point of the role is to grow sales of our products for our customers, therefore leading to an increase in our sales. This can involve giving funding for promotions, running sampling events and securing good locations in depot/store for our products. It also involves keeping in touch with our customers regarding sales, letting them know about new products and ensuring they have all the information they need to sell our stock.

Yes - lots! My communication skills have improved greatly. Over my four placements I have been responsible for not only internal communications but communication with our customers and agencies who supply artwork for us. This has also improved my confidence. Resilience is another skill I have developed - I have faced multiple setbacks across my roles and used the experiences of those around me to learn the most efficient ways to deal with these. There are so many skills I could list that have improved over my time at Nestlé: critical thinking, teamwork skills, problem solving, IT skills, presentation skills... There are so many opportunities to go on courses, learn from your colleagues or just learn from experience.

I definitely enjoy my programme although at times it is difficult. On the positive side: I have genuinely enjoyed every role I've been given and feel I've been able to make a difference There is a large community of apprentices and grads, past and present Everyone I have worked with so far has been amicable and eager to help me On the negative side: The amount of responsibility you are given can occasionally be quite stressful (even though your colleagues are always happy to help) Balancing work, uni and your personal life can sometimes be challenging I sometimes find myself comparing my social life to friends who have gone to university etc. and are around their peers all day Overall I would definitely say there are more enjoyable aspects of the programme than non-enjoyable.

Nestlé have been running the scheme for 7 or so years now and the overall structure is strong. We complete four six-month placements in different functions then choose one function to work in for a year as our final placement (coinciding with writing our dissertation for Sheffield Hallam). I find this structure works well and one of the biggest perks of the programme is getting to trial so many different roles. However, aspects of the scheme can sometimes seem unorganised e.g. communication between Nestlé and Sheffield Hallam and not knowing what your next placement will be until a week before your start date.

The support from my line managers has always been second to none. They always regularly catch up with me, both on a professional and personal basis and I would be more than comfortable talking to any of them about any problems I might have. It is also easy to establish mentors for yourself within the teams you work in who you can go to with any questions. There are also apprentice "champions" in each fucntion who have a good knowledge of all the apprenticeship schemes and can support you. My only improvement would be for there to be a dedicated team that oversee apprentices and check-in with us from a pastoral perspective and help us through our apprenticeship.

Our university lecturers always provide high quality weeks for us and we have some great discussions about the topics. Lecturers are always easy to get in touch with via email should we need to. Pastoral issues e.g. requesting extensions are easy to do remotely. We recently had a virtual university week due to the recent pandemic and it is definitely a testament to Sheffield Hallam that they delivered the module so well at such short notice. However, they could be more knowledgable on the apprenticeship standard as we sometimes recieve conflicting information or it is not clear what we need to do.

Whilst the degree is interesting and will no doubt be of use to me should I want to apply for a different job in the future, I definitely learn more from working at Nestlé than I do working towards my degree. If anything, my role helps me to perform better in my degree.

Yes! I always have something coming up with work that is outside my normal day job. Things like training and conferences are always happening and easy for anyone to sign up to. There is alway some kind of charity event going on. We have a free gym on site where we can attend classes. There are so many initiatives to get involved in - the LGBTQ network, Mental Health First Aiders, Pets at Work, Wellness Champions... just to name a few!

Yes

Nestlé is a great place to work! The culture is great and people are always put first and foremost. There is always somebody there to support you and you are given enough responsibility to make a real difference, even as a new starter at 18 years old. Their attitude to work-life balance is second to none and this is shown by their flexible working policy as well as the extra-curricular activities I have mentioned already.

Be yourself! Nestlé do not have a set criteria that they are looking for. I would recommend spending some time getting to know yourself and identifying what skills you already have. Then think about what these skills could bring to the workplace. Know your own strengths and be able to talk about them.