Shopper Marketing Apprentice Review

I look after the Superdrug window posters, security barriers and star buy promotional point of sale. This means working on an evently basis with both internal and external contacts, brands and other stakeholders to create great point of sale. I also work very closely with a print and design company, in-house to ensure the point of sale is as effective as it can be.

I have learnt lots during my 14 months in this job role. I have mostly learnt people skills and how to work and cooperate in a professional office environment. I would say I also have learnt how to take a lot of responsibility for everything I do in the work place. I have also learnt how the process behind point of sale works and it has really opened my eyes to the other side of retail hat I wouldn't have known as a consumer.

My Business Admin apprenticeship lacked a lot of wow factor for me, it was a lot more basic than I thought it was going to be. I feel as I was almost over qualified for the apprenticeship and my time could've been spent better, elsewhere. Saying that, I have really enjoyed the actual job role in my team. I just feel as if I should've been shown more about the apprenticeship before I started it so I knew what I was getting myself into.

I would say my programme was averagely structured, it was set out in modules which makes sense but I don't think it was very well organised at all. Every time I met with my assessor we didn't seem to be on the same page about what was meant to be done and things tended to get quite messy.

I honestly didn't receive much support at all from my employer for my apprenticeship. I set aside an hour a week to work on my apprenticeship modules and it was always pushed aside by my senior manager and almost forgotten about. A lot of the time I would be put under a lot of pressure from the job role and not have time to work on my apprenticeship when really I should've been prioritising the apprenticeship and not be the other way round. I felt as if certain people forgot that I was only an apprentice and put me under unnecessary pressure and was asked to do things that were well above my level.

As I've previously said I don't feel as if I had much support from my provider at all, I only saw the assessor once every 5/6 weeks and I don't feel as if we had any sort of relationship where I could ask for help or ask questions.

I don't feel that my business admin qualification has helped me much with my job role at all, as it was all very basic stuff like showing that I can use a voicemail system and that I can touch type. If I'm completely honest I don't think I actually learnt anything new from this qualification and it certainly wasn't what I was expecting it to be.

The only extracurricular activity I know of at my work is football on a Tuesday night that I'm not interested in and also think only men do!

Yes

I think the company is a great one to work for, and a good one to have on your CV for experience. I also feel as if it's really built it's way up in the world of retail which is a good thing.

Make sure you are 100% happy with what you're applying for and ask as many questions as you need to when in the interview. Make connections with as many people as possible as it will make it all so much easier and try and be honest about yourself!