Apprentice Project Administrator Review

My current role at Sage sits within the Business Operations Team but this is due to change in the next month. In Business Operations I am part of the Order Lifecycle Team (OLM) where I am the project administrator. My day to day BAU activities involves preparing contracts for our customers and sending them to the customer for them to approve and sign. As well as my BAU activities I am also involved in small projects, where it being process improvements for my BAU activities or helping solve issues within our business.

Project Management knowledge- When I started my job back in October 2018 I had next to no knowledge of Project Management apart from the very basics which I touched upon in college. Throughout my time up until now I have learnt so much from the apprenticeship workshops and on the job practice that I have now ran my own projects within Sage People. Communication- My communication at the start of my new role in Sage was not very good. I wasn’t asking questions where I should have been, my emails to customers were not formal and on some occasions I failed to inform of people of where I have got up to on certain projects. However after extensive online training sessions and shadowing Project Managers I can now safely say my communication towards others is a lot better.

Also enjoyed the new experience of working in an office and gaining new skills around working in an office.

I really enjoyed the programme in terms of the new topics I learnt throughout the 7 workshops I attended, which eventually built me up to my APMP Exam. I was given my dates for the workshops without any issues. The only issue I had with the apprenticeship was that I had 3 skills coaches which confused things between the skills coaches as they lost pieces of my work, didnt know which pieces of my work had already been marked etc.

I have received lots of support from my employer. Where it having access to certain courses/resources to help aid in my personal development as a human being or to help with revision etc for my exam. As well as this my line manager has been very supportive throughout my apprenticeship, checking over my portfolio, making sure I am on track and allowing me to take a few hours out to work on my portfolio.

During my apprenticeship I have always had a skills coach for support at all times, even if it was a bit tricky having 3 skills coaches though out my apprenticeship. But if I ever needed help or a question answered about anything they were always there, whether it being through email or on a call. They were all very informative and knew so much about project management so there was never a question they could not answer.

When I started my job back in October 2018 I had next to no knowledge of Project Management apart from the very basics which I touched upon in college. Throughout my time up until now I have learnt so much from the apprenticeship workshops and on the job practice that I have now ran my own projects within Sage People. From the workshops that I attended I was able to apply the knowledge/ skills I learnt and use them in projects in the workplace.

We always have office get togethers during the summer and at Christmas as well as smaller get togethers more regularly with my team. As well as this there are many different sports to get involved with ranging from bootcamp, running club to the Sage Football team. We also have our Sage Foundation that always has an extensive list of volunteering opportunities to get involved with. For example last year in September 2019 we took part in a dragon boat in London on the Thames in aid of a Charity called Backup who help inspire people affected by spinal cord injuries to get the most out of life. Before the race we had to raise some money in which we ended up doing a knock off from the show The Great British Bake Off. We got our colleagues in the office involved to see who can decorate a cake the fastest whilst still trying to maintain outstanding decoration.

Yes

Sage offers a very supportive and inclusive work environment with a solid emphasis customer and colleague success. Colleagues, focus, changing towards become a great and iconic SaaS company, does the right thing putting colleagues and customers at the centre. Great Benefits, lots of support for you if you need it. Very ethically aware and focused on community development. Great IT systems very well organised. Working for Sage was my first proper job and my first office job and I couldnt of dreamt of working for a better business

When applying to Sage make sure you do your homework. Research Sage's background and what services/products Sage provide for other businesses. Being able to lay some of this information onto the interviewers looks really good. The best advice I could give is to be confident as this is what Sage are always on the look out for. But also try to be yourself, show them what you can do and what you can bring to Sage.