Higher Apprentice Buyer Review

I am a Higher Apprentice Buyer and I work in the Electricity Transmission Equipment Procurement Team, primarily at home due to COVID. My role is designed to support my team through adherence to cost targets and category management. I have a number of responsibilities where I lead on my own contracts, run a weekly Coupa tracker and participate in Internal & External Apprentice Training.

Absolutely. Procurement is a new area that I am working in so everything I do is new to me personally! In terms of qualification, I am working towards a CIPS Level 4 Diploma in Procurement & Supply, which is provided externally but endorsed and supported internally. I also complete internal training courses which cover a wide range of different areas, from Inductions to Time Management, Effective Meetings, & First Aid. I also have a monthly development review with my manager where I work on developing personal & professional skills, including resilience, proactiveness, commerciality and Systems & Analytics Competencies.

I thoroughly enjoy my programme - Firstly, I am part of an supportive, close and experienced Procurement Team who are always willing to provide help where needed, and offer training to myself when I don't understand something. I have a very wide support network which also helps including a business coordinator, Higher Apprentice Buddy, Line Manager and Apprenticeship Coordinator amongst a number of others. I also really enjoy working for National Grid as a company which plays an extremely important role in transmitting Electricity & Gas across the UK (amongst so many other things) - I find it inspiring to be able to simply drive down the motorway and consider the impact my role, and my team's role has on the Pylons we drive past every day. This apprenticeship has exceeded my expectations greatly, and I cannot wait to continue making progress in the business.

My Apprenticeship is very well organised. When I first started everything was (and still is) held virtually. This has meant that all of my induction process, formal training, key person introductions have been organised online, which has (to the credit of the NG Academy Team) run incredibly smoothly for myself. I have been provided with all of the technology and DSE that I need to perform in my role as effectively as possible, I have arranged with my manager suitable times to commit to Off the Job Training, I can access a number of study support materials from SRSCC's Training Website Aptem, and have been well trained in how to use these systems on a day to day basis. My manager also came up with a very comprehensive Procurement Induction Plan at the beginning of the Apprenticeship which included free time to spend reviewing what I had learnt. All in all, I don't think that in the circumstances, my apprenticeship could have been organised any better.

As I have mentioned briefly in other questions I have a very close network of support, which I can look towards whenever it is required. In the first instance I would go to my line manager, who is really friendly, approachable, experienced and knowledgable. If that were not possible I am more than happy to communicate with the Category Manager in my team (who I have bi-weekly meetings with anyway) and the same for the Senior Category Manager in my team. Outside of my team support network I can also reach out to my Business Coordinator or my Higher Apprentice Buddy who also work in Procurement to get their views on a task for example. (I have weekly calls with these people also). If I require support from the Academy I know I can contact my New Talent Advisor with any queries I have, and there is also my support tutor at SRSCC to discuss any concerns around my CIPS course as well. If I have any issues with IT there is a designated IT support service, there is also a HR support team using MyServices, and if needed there is a free counselling service phone line called the Employee Assistance Programme.

There is a lot of support on offer from my Training Provider SRSCC - First and foremost I have a Support Tutor assigned to me, who I can go to with any queries i may have with regards to my study timetable, workload and exam tips (amongst a number of other areas) I can also access support from the Admin/Support Team at SRSCC who are very responsive to answer queries around the VLE for example. So far I have enjoyed taking part in my CIPS Training - it is informative, useful to my daily work commitments and will serve me well in the future.

I feel that the CIPS course I am studying is very much applicable to the role that I am working in, and is a requirement for career progression within National Grid Procurement also. Being part of CIPS also has numerous benefits, as you get access to study materials and hot news topics. These are really insightful as it gives me perspective about other industries responses to procurement (particularly non-regulated businesses) I use the Strategic Sourcing Process concept in the majority of the purchasing I operate so the learning I have begun to do with CIPS on this, is helping to further cement my understanding. I have not yet completed my qualification, but I do feel I know substantially more about procurement now than I have ever done before.

There are a number of different extra curricular events to get involved in here at National Grid (Note: some of which are not available at the moment given Covid Restrictions) Firstly, I am part of a networking group called NewNet which is designed to encourage new starters in the business to get to know their colleagues and the way the business works. This includes Virtual coffee breaks, and even Site Visits to Substations/ OHL's. There is also a wellbeing group within Procurement itself - at the moment the latest initiative is to help raise money called Step into Spring where the goal is to walk (or run) six marathons in four weeks which equates to 10,000 steps a day. Alongside this there are event run by my team, at the moment we have 2 meetings a week where the team don't discuss work but instead have an informal catch up. Altogether there are a huge wealth of different opportunities available.

Yes

Because quite simply, it is an excellent company to work for. The energy sector is rapidly evolving and developing especially with regards to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which makes my role even more important. Not only that but there are huge number of benefits - Employee Discounts, very Competitive Salary, share save scheme etc.

The key thing that I did was to do your research - look at the corporate strategy and aims, think about roles and responsibilities you may be asked to perform, find some key statistics like the fact we have over 350 substations and 44,000KM of OHL here in the UK. Most importantly, champion your own experience and be confident in your ability - make sure you have a comprehensive CV too!