Process and Admin Section Manager Review

My job role has changed throughout the course as I have progressed, my current role is Process and Admin Section Manager. The role means I am the custodian of everything Health and Safety within the store, I have control over direct costs for my store ensuring that we come in line with the business plan set out by the company. I oversee the security team, admin, cash and people teams within the store and I am the conscience of everything shrink related, engaging the rest of the teams around shrink and ensuring we deliver a year on year improvement as the retail sector faces an increase in shrink.

I have learnt a whole new role since starting the course with my previous job role being E-commerce and shop floor based roles. I am now Process and Admin which was a complete new side to the business. I had to change my approach to succeed in my new role changing both my personal and professional skills. The degree apprenticeship has enabled me to dive into other aspects of the business from a company Level and engaged me to under take further reading which has benefited me within my job role.

I love the team in which I attend university with, with everybody coming from different roles within the company and meeting people all across the UK. I now have contacts in other parts of the business that I can lean on for support and guidance not only with university but also company level. It has opened my eyes to how much the company differs in terms of personality and the outlook we all have not only from a personal perspective but also a regional perspective.

I have the most amazing support tutor who is always at the other end of the phone if I have a question. The induction made us feel at ease as a group and the online resource you have is more than sufficient to deliver good results in your assignments, with it all being centred around the company I work for it means your well engaged and you can link theory to practical a lot easier than someone not doing an apprenticeship could.

My manager that endorsed my application form originally I no longer work with but she has remained my mentor and is always there for support whether its popping around for a bru or a chat on the phone. There are many contacts within the company in different fields that you can gather more information and support from. The company has a supportive culture which I think is essential when undertaking a degree course while working full time.

I receive as much or little support as I need from my tutor with regular 1 to 1 meetings, information at my fingertips and they chase down an answer to a question if they don't know it. I have been supported when the retail sector has gotten too busy to even think about University work at key aspects of my career such as stock take. The accessibility of support is easy to use and there's lots online to help you.

I know a lot more about my company since starting the retail degree course. You can easily find yourself just looking at your stores performance and not even taking into account the Company's performance as a whole. The information you collate for assignments makes you think of new and innovative ways you can improve a process. Prior to the report you just did what the company set you out to do whereas now Im submitting ideas to retail operations and getting feedback of whether they can use it to make life easier and simple for a process in store.

I have applied for more since being on the course. I engage more with social media to network and profile my own talents and my teams which I never used before to showcase and document how far we have actually come since coming into role. With being in a new store and a new role naturally I have become more engaged with colleague engagement as now I'm monitored on this as a manager and I received the best feedback in the store from my own team because I don't just do I ask them what they want and how they feel and take the feedback from them.

Yes

Im extremely proud of the company I work for, the team that helps me deliver and the colleagues around me. I have come to a store that wasn't performing well and we have turned it around with a new management team and by listening to our colleagues. My family work for the company in other shops and I always remain in contact with colleagues from previous stores as they are like family. The company takes care of its colleagues and we aren't just a shop we are a team and everybody makes a difference and that's why I would recommend that anyone can find one role in the shop they love and feel driven by because there's so many different roles.

Asda has changed the application and interview process to make it where those applying can have a go before committing to joining and that's helpful and a good tactic at letting people see what its like before they join. The company is people orientated with one of the biggest measures being the Your Voice survey where colleagues get the say on how they feel, what they want and where we can improve. There is so many opportunities with many General Store Managers starting out as a porter and working their way up and that's what is most important everybody stands a chance for development.