Assistant Branch Manager Review

When I started my apprenticeship I was a customer service team leader within head office, basically working along side branches helping with their day to day tasks. This was my first leadership role at the age of 19 and was unsure how to actually be a manager, I then went onto the apprenticeship course and whilst I was on that course I developed enough skills for me to go for an assistant branch managers role and actually got the job. This involves the running of the branch operations but also means that I have to get involved with sales and looking into projects in the area. Looking at margin etc.

My management skills have developed dramatically, considering when I started on the course it was my first ever leadership role, which I had no skills in whatsoever and was actually quite a shy person and a bit of a push over. Since being on the course I have learnt how you can manage different people in different ways depending on their learning styles and personalities. This has helped me to be a lot more confident, especially when now dealing with a much bigger responsibility.

I absolutely loved my apprenticeship and I am actually looking into when I can start my next journey with the next level up apprenticeship with Travis Perkins. This made me as a person and a manager, and you meet so many new friends along the way which are in the different divisions of Travis Perkins. The mentors are great and they are so much fun, it's actually nice to get out of your normal workplace and spend time with them to be honest.

It's great, on your first day you get your schedule of your modules, they will put in a workshop for around every month or every 6 weeks depending on how big the module is, you have you 1-2 day workshop and then for the rest of the month you do the coursework alongside your normal job. Most managers are great at letting you have a bit of time to yourself to finish your work off to be honest so you don't have to feel stressed about doing it in your own time at home. They give you a ring binder to keep all of your work in whilst you are taking part and you can take a laptop with you if you wish, and take lots of photo's of your work, which will then score you points within your coursework.

When I was at head office, I didn't even need to ask to do my coursework I just did it, and if I got a little behind because work was incredibly busy then my manager would let me work from home for a day to catch up on the work outside of the work place. You also have a regular catch up with your line manager, which they will then look at and review how they think you are doing and improving since your time on the apprenticeship.

You have a mentor who will have regular catch ups with you every quarter and they are at the end of the phone if you ever need them, they also mark your work for you and give you feedback on what you need to focus on. The people who conduct the workshops are great and so much fun and they will respond to any emails/questions you may have throughout the whole experience, overall I think the mentors and facilitators are the best part about it to be honest.

I think it has developed me massively as a person! I have gone from an administrator, to a team leader to an assistant branch manager in the space of 3 and a half years and I couldn't be happier that I put myself forward to go on this course. You also get recognised with the workplace because you have been on a course and that will help your further develop your career within the group, just like I would like to.

It's a little different within the different brands of Travis Perkins I think. I work within BSS and we have an annual "power on" night where all of the branch teams within our region get together for an evening where there is a meal and entertainment on, so you can mingle with them. When I was at head office we had regular team building sessions which everyone took part in. But there are Charity groups, Colleague board meetings, Women Inclusion Group that you can join if you wanted to.

Yes

I think Travis Perkins are just like one big family, and when you take time on these apprenticeship courses you get to see people from all of the other brands and see how they work differently to maybe yourself, but all in all we work in the same group and help each other out where we can. I have built many relationships/friendships whilst on the course, which was great. I love my company because I love what we do and the way that we are. We put safety at the heart of everything we do, and we also have fun whilst at work.

Do it! You will not be disappointed, there are so many perks for working within Travis Perkins. And there is always chance to progress within the work place, like I say I have been with BSS now for 5 years and have managed to get to Assistant manager at the age of 22, I am aiming to go as high in the company as I can, and with the positivity and support from the company I feel like I will be able to achieve all of my goals.