Sales Planning Executive Review

I am responsible for the internal alignment of our accounts. This means I need to make sure all the processes are in place and accounting is done in order to make the opportunities my business manager negotiates with the customer materialise. The best thing about this role is that it is what you make of it, if you are interested in sales you can work with your business manager to take on some of their responsibilities and lead projects with the customer. For example I have taken ownership of the online part of my customer so I am the key point of contact for the online buyer and lead the online team to make a strategy and implement the plan for the year.

I've developed strong excel and Microsoft suite skills through this role. I have also been given lots of opportunities to develop skills by going above and beyond my role such as selling and negotiating, project management and team leadership.

I think this programme was really good at exposing me to different areas of the business. By spending the first 2 years working on 6months placements across sales, marketing, supply chain and category management it provides apprentices with the opportunity to have a breadth of knowledge that others in the business do not have an understanding of. This knowledge helps to set us apart and excel in our roles as we are well rounded candidates.

The programme is relatively well structured. Sometimes decisions about moving roles can be made last minute however this is the nature of the business and you come to learn this. There are also clear uni dates sent out at the beginning of each year so you know how to manage your time / holidays. The consistency of structure between rotations could be improved as the quality of placements can vary quite significantly depending on team and manager which means some apprentices don't get the best experience from areas of the business they are genuinely interested in.

There was a really good level of support at Nestle through buddies, mentoring and coaching. The only way I can think of improving would be for Nestle to organise but not host events for the apprentices when they first start to allow them to network with other people on their course in a relaxed environment which is really important as these colleagues tend to be your closest especially to begin with.

I think there was adequate support from the university, this definitely improved as everything went virtual as tutors were used to working virtually so if we needed to contact them between modules before assignments happened it was easier to get in touch. I think the structure of running the week intensive courses online actually worked significantly better than in person as these would require sitting in the same lecture room 9-5 for a whole week having to take in information which made it challenging to stay focused.

I think especially in the final year certain modules helped such as the leadership module and career development module. However, the theory learnt in the modules did not compare to the actual training we received from the organisation which was applicable and actionable to work as apposed to intangible theories.

There are a relatively good number of social events to get involved in at Nestle, including team away days and in Purina there is a sports and social club. However, the office is located in Gatwick which makes it increasingly difficult to have casual networking events with colleagues. It would be really beneficial if there was a more centrally located office that colleagues could use to build relationships with.

Yes

I think the scheme is a great opportunity to get a breadth of experience in the key areas of business that will set anyone up well for the rest of their career regardless of role or industry. However, I do not know if I would recommend it as an employer for everyone in the long term due to the slow-pace and sometimes frustrating ways of working.

Nestle is passionate and honest about everyone being themselves at work. They are genuinely open for people to ask any questions and have created a great culture that allows people to learn and develop. In the on boarding process I would recommend for people to continually speak up and ask questions and not be intimidated by the fact that it's a big organisation because it's still filled with people who are friendly and always happy to help.