Contract Management Specialist Review

During my apprenticeship with Canon I have had the fantastic oppotunity to work in three very different teams within business operations. These included the consumer imaging group (CIG), ministry of defence team (MOD) and the contract data mangement team. I began the year in the CIG team as a order management professional which invovled placing orders for customers/partners, liasing with account managers, managing stock and running crucial reports. I later moved to the MOD team. This involved looking after the MOD's contracts with canon, ensuring they bill correctly, communicating with the MOD via phone and email and running reports. Finally, at the end of September 2016 I applied for a permanent position in business operations and was offered a contract data management role (CDME). Canon offered me this position on the basis that my wage would go up to full when my apprenticeship ended in December 2016 and to also show their dedication, my salary increased by about three grand when I accepted the role. My daily responsibilities include; recording meter readings from Canon devices used by customers, contacting customers for readings, creating brand new contracts, making/running reports, terminating old contracts and much, much more.

During my time at Canon I have been able to learn a range of new skills from many different sources. Learning ways of working while in a position of responsability has taught me how to be accurate, productive and professional when completing daily tasks. Furthermore, I have been able to develop my existing communication and organisation skills as these are very important characteristics that Canon employees need in order to be successful in their job. I have also had the oppotunity to attend multiple training courses which focuses on me as an individual, in and outside of work. I found these very interesting as they have me helpful tips for life and work.

I enjoyed my apprenticeship programme at Canon as it has provided me with a very good position within a very successful and globally recognised organisation. I feel that without the experience of the apprenticeship, I would not be as proficient in my work as I am today. Furthermore, the apprenticeship has opened so many doors for me that I can use in my career going forward.

I do feel valued by Canon as an employee however, as I was one of the very first business operations apprentices, there could have been more support for me at the start of my programme. After speaking with new apprentices for this year, there has been multiple changes to the programme in terms of support provided.

The apprenticehip programme is fairly structued as the assesor books in a day every month to meet with you to go through work completed and to set new work for the next month. I was able to book meeting rooms in order to get away from my desk in order to complete my coursework so, I organised my time well of which I believe is the best way of learning as if everything is done for you, there would be nothing new to learn.

The assesor of my programme provided a great level of support from her side of things by always being avalible to speak to if need be. My assesor, Toni, also provided me with advise about office life and ways of dealing with new situations that I had not encountered before which I found very helpful in my multiple roles.

Having moved around a few teams during my time at Canon, support has been different due to the changes in managers and team leaders. Overall, the support Canon provided me during my apprenticeship programme has been very positive with my managers and team leaders ensuring that I had the time and resources to complete the work within the year.

I believe the salary and benefits Canon provide are fantastic as many other businesses do not compete with the overall package Canon offer. Compared to other apprenticeship wages, Canon's is very strong. Apprentices are also eligible for all benefits that permenant employees can get including discounted event tickets, private healthcare, pension scheme and many, many more.

I was lucky enough to attend a customer visit in my first few months at Canon which I found very interesting as the meeting was setup to discuss the processes Canon operate with and how the customer can work alongside it better. I was able to include the visit in my coursework. There is also the oppotunity to complete one volenteering day. This is added as an extra day to your annual holiday.

Yes

I would recommend Canon to a friend as they are a brillaint organisation to have on your CV. There is also so many oppotunities within the company due to the scale of the business and progression is a very important asset that they invest into in order to progress their employees.

I would recommend researching Canon before an interview and refering to this when face to face with the interviewer. Ensuring you have all the relevent experience and to positivley stand out at your assesment day as this will help you make a good first impression.