Merchandising Review

My role throughout my apprenticeship with asda is within the purchasing department. More specifically with fashion buying for asda's own brand George. I am responsible to help make decisions with regards to seasonal fashion and I am also heavily involved with communicating and placing orders with suppliers. Sometimes the work can be a little boring and tedious however for the most part I enjoy it a lot. I can definitely see myself working in a similar role in the years to come.

I have firstly developed my team working skills, I feel like I am much more confident whilst expressing my opinions to colleagues, as-well as this I believe I am expressing my creativity much more. Also I have learned how to build up business relationships and how to professionally deal with any issues with quality for example.

I do really enjoy my programme, I enrolled as a backup option to university however I had a slight change of heart and I have never looked back. I enjoy waking up in the mornings knowing I have a full day of work ahead. I enjoy my fashion buying role as it is something I have always been interested in.

For a majority of the time I feel very highly valued by my colleagues at Asda. My supervisors are fantastic, they treat me as they would treat eachother and I feel more motivated as a result of this. There was however one instance where I feel I was looked down upon by a regional manager however you do live and learn.

My programme is well structured. Everyday there is different work to be getting on with and because of this there are plenty challenges for me. I do feel however my role should have been explained to me in more detail before starting the apprenticeship as it was almost like I blindly went into it.

My training provider contact me on a weekly basis in order to make sure everything is perfect. I really like this personal touch and I know that if anything is ever wrong I can share my problems with them. I am free to contact them whenever I like aswell which is a bonus.

I receive lots of support from my employer. As mentioned above my supervisors are fantastic. I feel like they have put great trust in me and because of this I certainly do not want to let them down. If I ever have any queries I always receive more than helpful responses. This again has helped boost my confidence as normally I would be shy when asking for support.

My salary is good enough for somebody of my age still living at home. I have many friends on other apprenticeship schemes on double my salary however they certiainly have half of the job satisfaction that I have. I feel the salary could probably be better however my costs currently are low.

Yes there are a lot of opportunities for me outside of work. Firstly I receive a staff discount card with Asda which is always very useful. Also, the salary which I have managed to save up and I am still saving up will hopefully one day enable me to start up my own online store selling limited edition clothing. I am learning a lot of valuable information and lessons now that should steer me in the path to success as opposed to a path to failure like a lot of online fashion start-ups.

Yes

Unlike many other apprenticeships I have done some research into you actually get a lot of real life industry experience with Asda. Even if I do not end up staying on with asda I have a lot of experience that would definitely help boost my CV. Unlike school aswell I feel respected and a part of a team.

Definitely go for it. There are lots of fantastic working opportunities available with Asda. I was unsure as to whether goto university or do an apprenticeship with asda, I went for the latter as I feel it will benefit me much more in the future, also I will not be thousands of pounds in debt which is a bonus.