Supervisor Review

As a supervisor, I deal with customer, including taking and serving orders for food and drink, answering queries, cleaning and restocking supplies when low. I also organise some entertainments and run the charity quiz nights which are generally every week). I delegate tasks to other staff, and also take responsibility for changing shifts when necessary to suit busy/quiet periods.

I have learned a great deal about the pub sector and customer service. I am now proficient in such things as checking and hanging barrels when depleted, as well as gas tanks, and various factors in health and hygiene re. food and drink. I have also learned social protocols for dealing with customers in a variety of moods and situations.

I am enjoying the programme as I find it useful educationally for my role, but also clearly laid out and easy to understand. I also like that each section is able to be done in 'bite-size' chunks, keeping each part concise and interesting without being overwhelming or hars to recall.

As I said previously, I find the programme well-laid out, ztarting from more basic matters and then going more in-depth as it progresses. The use of videos is also a good way to break up what would be longer sections of text and keep things fresh. The usage of more, but smaller, parts is good for learning on convenient increments, rather than having to take longer periods at a time.

I receive a lot of support from Marstons, which provides me with paid, on-the-job training, and also sends me on paid courses which I can use for the hours needed for my apprenticeship. They also allow me to complete written parts of my apprenticeship, and my manager is available to answer any questions I need or provide extra training I might require.

My training provider, Aptem, is extremely good at communicating and also arranging meet-ups for in-person progress reviews and to improve the completion of my apprenticeship. My personal trainer is very helpful, and has assisted me with various questions and examples if I am unsure of how to proceed to explain something coherently.

My qualification is teaching me a great deal of things I didn't previously know, including legal aspects of my job, how to interact with customers and team members, and more information about the hospitality sector and how it works. It also helps me understand pub finances such as financial forecasts, which allows me to take projections and targets into better account and adjust our team's work accordingly.

We often have social events at our work, such as theatre visits, escape rooms, trips to local attractions, and restaurant visits. Due to various shifts patterns these are hard to arrange for large numbers of people, but generally up to about 10 people can go on each one. We are also trying to set up a darts team.

Yes

Having worked a number of admin and retail jobs, I find Marstons to be one of the very few that pay for both your uniform and any training required, including out of hours training, rather than taking money out of your wages for it. Marstons is also good at giving holiday, and pays extra wages on Christmas and New Year's Eve, as well as providing various incentives for targets such as performance and reputation of your pub. I have never had issues with bullying or discrimination, and they are open to new ideas when asked, such as the staff-only discounts that have just been improved upon.

You will probably start with absolutely basic glass collection duties, but not to be put off by it, as most people will no experience will start from the bottom! Being friendly to other staff and customers is a must, and to understand your scheduled hours might change regularly based on the needs of thr pub, but your manager will take into account your personal life and how many hours you need per week. Cross-training for bat and kitchen is also a good idea.