sales executive apprentice Review

My role is to speak to Sage's customers on webchat, solving their problems, sending them to the right place and also pitching products. We can sell them products and follow up on leads. We have a huddle everyday where our team shares best practice which is really beneficial for development.

I have definitely gained confidence through my role as I've had to make my own pitches, get used to customers telling me no and trying new things and meeting new people. I have become fluent in the Sage software such as salesforce and intouch, which are new skills which i know are transferrable :) However, the apprentice programme itself I haven't learned much, as we haven't had many sessions with our trainer since starting 7 months ago. It's interesting to learn about business but it's just going over what I learned at GCSE so nothing new

The apprenticeship programme at Sage has been great! The early careers leaders at the company have been so lovely and helpful and have given us lots of opportunities to do new things and meet new people which is exciting and lots of things to add to your CV. My team is lovely and we get along well, everyone is so welcoming here it's a lovely culture and I like coming to work every day. On the flip side, the apprenticeship programme at Northern Skills has been awful, I've had multiple meetings with the early careers leaders and managers on my floor as they ignore us all the time, don't set work and regularly cancel training sessions. I feel like I'm falling behind already

Sage itself has been great with the onboarding we have had lots of initial training to get us ready for our roles here in sales, as obviously we need in depth product knowledge in order to be great. There has also been call calibration sessions in order to perfect our webchats by sharing best practice and offering feedback. There is an obvious structure and I know who I need to contact is I ever need any help which is great :) Northern skills however have been really poorly structured, I don't know what's going on half the time as there is little to no communication from the company at all. So far I have been here 7 months and only done 3 bits of coursework, despite the roadmap they sent us having far more activities on there. It is atrocious

I feel like I receive a lot of support from Sage. Everyone in my team is happy to help, including my manager. There are lots of teams chats where you can ask for assistance with customer queries and there is always someone who has an answer for you :) There are sometimes performance clinics or call calibration sessions where we are kept up to date with things and everything is super helpful. The managers on the floor are also always there in your corner, especially if you have problems with apprenticeship providers...

Once we have had a session there was support within it and the trainer would answer the questions that we had and they were good sessions, however outside of the sessions there was little to no contact which made it difficult to organise sessions or ask questions surrounding the work.

as we have only had 4 sessions with the trainer in the last 7 months so I feel like it is more difficult to apply what I have learned in my qualification in my day-to-day role. It was interesting to hear about the history of salespeople and the product life cycle etc but it is hard to input this into selling Sage's products and answering customer queries

There is a huge initiative to volunteer at Sage, we get 5 foundation days a year to volunteer and they encourage you to do it with your team so it's a nice team-building thing :) there is an annual christmas party and there are other events throughout the year and there are many things to get involved with. there are pride@sage networks and many others and it's interesting getting involved in these communities and learning more about everything, these communities also have events and opportunities you can get involved with. one of the apprentices on my team won the chance to go to the LGBT awards and an all expenses paid trip :)

Yes

I feel like Sage is somewhere where everyone feels like they belong, it is a really welcoming company :) I feel really supported in my role and feel like I am making good progress and even though I am an apprentice I'm not treated like a child or inferior to the other workers. It is a lovely working environment, the wage is really good and I feel valued

Overall just be yourself, I feel like Sage hires people who are themselves and are lovely people etc. Don't feel too stressed about the video interviews, it is daunting talking to a black screen (or even your own face) but if you have a couple of goes it feels totally fine :)