Food professional/ science degree apprentice Review

My role as an apprentice currently is working in secondment in Lipton Tea and Infusions. I am a product developer. This involves me working in the development lab, organising tea tastings and attending tea tastings. Managing Excel sheets and collecting notes. I have been in benchmarking projects, cost saving projects, new development projects launching new Lipton teas internationally.

The skills that I have developed while working is communication skills such as how to answer emails, talk in meetings and hold workplace discussions in a formal and professional manner. The new skills I have learnt would be organisational skills, becoming more independent in my own decisions and abilities, improved confidence.

I enjoy it immensely and would recommend this programme to everyone. The work environment has always been welcoming, friendly, proactive and agile, always interesting things going on. People understand you are an apprentice that is there to learn and always been very helpful when needing support or to explain new things, even helping expand on knowledge learnt from university. Everyone is happy to share their experience and knowledge with you. There are a lot of workshops and support for mental health, included amazing benefits such as an on site therapist. Work provides purpose, motivation and is always insightful and interesting.

It is pretty well structured. There are always rotations happening to give you a chance to have different experiences. At the start of the apprenticeship had to ask for a lot of support on the University side of things as they did not really provide any type of induction for it, which was a bit stressful. But every two months you attend university for a week and the dates are provided in advance so you can plan around attending university.

If you ask for support then you will always receive support. And you can always find support using online tools as well. There are so many benefits that are offered that sometimes you are aware of and other times are not, keeping an open relationship with line managers is very important as they will provide a lot of support and show you where you can find other types of support that is offered. Line managers are always supportive and attentive, they care about your personal progress and growth not just how well you performing in the business. They have suitable accommodations, I am dyslexic I have trouble with numbers and it was something closely assessed by my manager and always checked in on specific task to see if anything can be done to make it easier for me. All concerns that I have brought up has always been addressed and supported. I feel listened to and appreciated here.

The university are also very supportive. They have their own student support team for apprentices which provide a lot of benefits, who you can get in touch with. They have meetings with your employer and yourself to allow there to be conversations on how we can all work together to provide new learning experiences, how to apply learning from uni into work that can then be applied to your degree and assessments.

Going to university provides a well rounded experience that fits into work. It allows you to learn about topics that you can then later explore within the company and ask questions to specific experts in that field to help build your knowledge. It provides bigger industry knowledge that gives you a bigger picture of what you are working towards. It allows you to truly apply what you are learning into the industry.

On site there are a lot of extra- curricular activities that take place during work hours or after hours. They are advertised via email and have a pamphlet so you can see all the many activities that take place. It ranges from creative ones such as crafts clubs to sport ones such as cricket, there is a theatre group that performs at the end of the year, murder mystery dinners. There are even some niche groups at work too, such as conservation.

Yes

It is such a big company, with amazing people and benefits. The work is never dull and you always feel looked after. There are plenty of opportunities to learn and gain experience in different roles. There are always interesting non work related events happening too. It is just a great place to work.

Understand what motivated you, what gives you drive and focus on your purpose. Always be open to learning more and applying yourself to situations. Be ready to push yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes. A lot of people are passionate about what they do and they want see the same for you.