Sales Operations Manager Review

I am responsible for supporting DHL's operational teams across the country with support in renewing customer contracts. I mostly support them with engaging stakeholders and completing various internal documents which have to be signed off before we can sign up to a new contract. These documents take a long time and are unfamilar to Ops teams.

I am constantly learning everyday and have developed countless new skills. I have developed the analytical skills I gained in school through working with large datasets and writing internal documents. I have developed massively in confidence since starting my apprenticeship and am comfortable speaking to new people and presenting.

I really enjoy my job and the work my team does. I enjoy the fact I have a varied role and each day is different. I enjoy the degree element of my apprenticeship to an extent but as it is not tailored to my job, it sometimes feels generic and unrelated.

The Open University degree is good but sometimes there is a lack of clear guidance for assignments. I have found that there is a lot of ambiguity which is only further explained in the feedback once you've done the assessment. Overall, the programme is well structured and I always get the 20% off the job from my employer.

My employer is great and always supports me. I always get my 20% off the job and am very fortunate to have a line manager and team who support me every single day. They are always there to help if I have any questions and have never made me feel inferior for being an apprentice. I could not fault my manager and my team for the amount of support they give me.

My training provider is the Open University and I enjoy that it is distanced learning. I do find that some of the content is not clearly explained and does not link to the work we are being asked to do. My tutors are on hand to support when required which is good.

My degree is in business management and whilst this is a good degree to have, it is quite generic at times and does not link to my role. That being said, the theories and concepts we learn are related to business and therefore I can relate it to my workplace.

Even throughout the pandemic, my team have stayed connected and have done a few charity events and team events online. Before Covid, we frequently had networking events and also social team events which were really enjoyable. We often volunteered in the local community, especially around Christmas time which was enjoyable.

Yes

DHL is a great employer who really cares about their employees. There are so many benefits to working for this organisation which you can immerse yourself in, and they invest in their people. Employees, not just apprentices, are entitled to 20% off the job learning and are allowed to explore things which interest them.

I would say to someone applying to work at DHL that they are going to work hard but also become part of a very interconnected business with lots of opportunity to develop. DHL invest a lot of time in developing employees and if you work hard, the opportunities are endless.