Retail Operations Apprentice Review

I am a Retail Operations Apprentice. Within M&G, Retail Ops is made up of a range of different teams and the apprenticeship I am on involves rotating around these teams for weeks at a time in order to learn how these sections of the business function together and separately. My daily tasks range a lot from booking and attending meetings to managing my own mini projects within the team I am currently in. The role involves meeting and communicating with a lot of different people internally and externally which is great for building a variety of work relationships.

As part of the programme I'm on, I'm taking the Investment Operations Certificate which is made up of three exams and is an industry recognised qualification designed to give an overview of Financial Services. Additionally to this, internal training courses are on offer and M&G encourage you to attend as many of these as you feel will be helpful to you, as well as external courses and exams that will enable you to develop yourself and your career.

I have enjoyed every aspect of working at M&G. The people, work and culture are all fantastic and it's a brilliant environment to work in.

I have found that the majority of people I have worked with show their appreciation and give great feedback when they are pleased with something you have completed. I also found that once you prove what you are capable of, you are always encouraged to do more and more. I did a report on Customer Satisfaction and my manager was so pleased with it that she asked me to present it at a Board Meeting. This was a great boost as it meant I was really adding value to my team and was recognised by some senior members of staff for my work.

At the start of the apprenticeship there were some issues with our training provider which meant that there was a slow start to our exam preparation, however M&G dealt with these really quickly and we were able to get back on track. In terms of training and suport, some in-house training sessions were set up for us as well as the ones set up by the training provider and we were encouraged to attend as many of these as we could. My manager has always been approachable and supportive, we have meetings once a week but she will always make time for an extra meeting if it is needed, so if there ever is an issue, it is dealt with really efficiently.

I didn't really feel as though the training provider gave as much help or support as they maybe should have done and as a result there were some issues with the first exam and I felt that it took longer than it needed to. I also felt that support from the tutor wasn't particularly accessible.

Support at M&G is endless and whenever they can help you with something they will. My line and HR managers are approachable and easy to talk to; if you have a problem they will do their best to help you out with it no matter what it is.

The package apprentices receive at M&G is the same as other members of staff in terms of pension, private healthcare, sick pay and holiday and is a great package to have. M&G also pay for your travel when you are working in a different office to the one you are contracted to so this is also really helpful. The salary isn't amazing but this is to be expected when completing an apprenticeship and it's one of the best paid apprenticeships I have heard of.

M&G has sports and social 'clubs' that you can take part in externally and events for these are emailed on a weekly basis. There are also Christmas and Summer parties as well as Team Building days. There is plenty for M&G staff to get involved in as well as after-work drinks etc.

Yes

I would 110% recommend M&G to a friend as it is a great company to work for with lots of support, career opportunities and an incredibly friendly environment. I started here in April and haven't looked back since.

If you get through to the interview day, make sure you have prepared and know about the company and the job role. Also use the application and interview process to make yourself stand out above the rest as it is a competitive process.