Enterprise Graduate Review

I support our start up innovation partners with sales and data analysis. I am responsible for the sales CRM system and ensuring we hit our sales targets and revenue growth. I have built my own sales dashboard to support with this. I also support with product management. This involves writing queries, analyzing data, building dashboards and presenting back to key stakeholders.

I have learnt lots of new skills. These include how to conduct a data anlaysis project and the steps and stakeholders to think about. How to manage data and think about GDPR and the data lifecycle. How to code in python and use it for various forms of analysis such as clustering, regression and classification.

I enjoy the program and have learnt a huge amount that I have been able to apply to my role. I have enjoyed all the of the workshops and projects and learning new skills. At some points though it has been extremely challenging to manage the workload of the apprenticeship with my day to day role.

The training provider can often be quite unorganized, canceling workshops last minute or setting last minute deadlines which is frustrating. The overall programme however is well organised, we have clearly structured topics and the individuals delivering the workshops and training are always well prepared. The tasks set are well planned. The projects are slightly less organised and tricky to manage.

The team looking after the fellowship are excellent, quick to answer questions and are always asking for feedback on how to improve. Most managers have tried their best to allow the 8 hours/week needed to complete work however this easily slips and mostly the work is done in personal time.

There is lots of support from the provider available with the cohort managers and mentors. Mentors set up regular meetings and are always quick to answer questions. That said the communication could be much better. The providers are generally quite unorganised and it can be difficult to get technical issues resolved. They also require you to fill in a huge amount of surveys which can be tedious and time consuming.

The training has allowed me to do projects and in depth analysis that I never would have been able to otherwise. This has been hugely useful for my team and has allowed them to offer more in depth and sophisticated insights to their clients. It has also allowed me to speed up some processes such as tracking sales metrics against targets.

Yes there are lots of events held within the data community such as the Digital and Data hangout, Digi Fest etc which are excellent networking opportunities. Pre-Covid there were lots of social activities however this had been more difficult since moving to working from home. There are still some virtual socials held occasionally.

Yes

M&S is an excellent place to work. My team are hugely supportive of my development and M&S provide so many opportunities for learning and gaining new qualifications. Given they are on a huge digital transformation it is a really exciting place to be and there are lots of new opportunities.

Be yourself. Having any digital and data skills that you can show will be key as the digital transformation is key to M&S. Show you are comfortable with change and can be adaptable and flexible as the business is transforming. Show you are driven and excited about retail and the future of retail.