People Services Apprentice Review

In my role, I process employee data changes. This includes processing compensation changes, promotions, maternity/paternity leave, change in business titles, change in work hours, fixed term contract extensions etc. These come through to us as 'cases' which we process on our HR system and generate letters to present to the employee to acknowledge the change.

I have developed my communication skills in this role. I communicate regularly with employees within the business and I need to ensure this communication is concise and clear in order to get the answers I need. I have also developed my time management skills as I often have around 10 cases at once meaning I have to balance my time between them to ensure I complete everything in a timely manner. I have also learnt IT skills and employment regulations.

I enjoy it a lot. This is my first role in the corporate world and I feel that it is the perfect place to start. My role works well alongside my University studies and I often refer to aspects of it in assignments. I enjoy communicating with employees within the business and ensuring customer satisfaction (my customers being the employees).

The work to Uni split is 80% work, 20% Uni, meaning I have a day off a week to focus on my studies. This works well and is well structured. University deadlines are clear and achievable, although does require hard work and good time management. My training plan at work was mainly on-the-job training, as opposed to a structured learning matrix.

I receive a good amount of support. My line manager is very supportive, and I know that I can go to her with any worries or concerns. I had a mentor when I first started the role which made me feel very supported as I was able to ask her questions or for help when needed. My team as a whole is very supportive of one another.

I receive a good amount of support from Aston University. I have a skills coach who I link in with each month and she gives me very useful feedback and targets to achieve. My lecturers are all also very approachable and I am able to book meetings with them should I need any support. Feedback on assignments sometimes is quite vague so a bit more support in regard to targets for future assignments would be useful.

I feel it is helpful. The management degree I am working towards is quite broad, so doesn't have many specific links to my role, but I have found that I am able to make links between the two. As a part of a University assignment, I implemented a successful project idea that has been beneficial to the team, meaning I would say that the qualification is helping me perform better in my role.

We have networks at work. I am a part of the Early Careers Network where we meet for lunch and engage in calls such as meeting leaders at Mondelez and organising events for National Apprenticeship week etc. I think it would be nice if there was more of a focus on this network and if events not within work hours were organised. More social activities would be nice.

Yes

The culture at Mondelez is great. Everyone is very friendly and supportive. The work is engaging and there is always opportunity for you to suggest new ways of working or kaizen ideas. I also like how there is a large early careers intake - I have met lots of great friends at Mondelez. And, of course, working for a chocolate company has its perks!

Read up on the company. Learn about the company's values and see if any align with your own values and if so, show how passionate you are about this and what you've done to demonstrate this. Also look at the skills that Mondelez likes it's employees to have and show that you have those skills.