Project support officer Review

I work in the retail support centre on a project team to roll out bakery equipment into stores. The role involves each stage of the planning and implementation of installing new kit. I communicate with stakeholders, suppliers and stores daily, in meetings and on phone calls. There's lots of trouble shooting dealing with issues that arise daily and keeping a smooth relationship from stores to the rsc

I've definitely improved my excel skills despite already being computer literate. I have become a lot more comfortable talking to people, especially those above me and that I've not met before. I've been able to share my learnings with my colleagues too, helping us all improve with personal development

I enjoyed it a lot more before covid. The virtual learning is really difficult and trying to stay focused despite all the additional workload in food stores has been almost impossible. This last 12 months has not been enjoyable at all and it will be a good day when we can return to the face to face learning

Our course leader Sarah brown is fantastic and she really helps us be our best. The issues seem to come from poor communication from the business to the university making they are setting teams without the knowledge of how busy we are making life really stressful. Several drop outs could have been prevented

It is very line manager dependant. I've have now been through 4 different line managers and 2 have been very supportive, 1 okay and 1 terrible. The amount of effort that goes into their 'induction' has dwindled a time has gone on by the University and now they can't access information they need

As much as we need really but we have to ask for it. Sometimes it feels like we're left a little bit too much alone and then that's what causes excessive drop outs. The personal tutors give excellent support but again this is really quite infrequent especially when we're so isolated from learning

It gives me a better overview of things. I think before the course I was very bogged down in the day job and the course has helped me see the wider picture and look at it from a different perspective. This also then helps with the mental health aspects of the job

Not during covid. In stores there's lots of things going on in the community to get involved in but it still depends on your line manager and community colleagues. At the support centre there is a gym which has free access by again this has been closed during covid restrictions

Yes

It's the best employer I've ever worked for. They give you so many opportunities to develop and everything is done so fairly. In my last company you had to be one of the favourites to get ahead but everything here is really inclusive and if you've got talent and are willing to try, no one stops you

Look into the business. Like really research the history of the coop and what makes it different. There's no where else like it and you'll be grateful of making the change. If you have the right behaviors anything is possible so think about your attitude towards things at interview