Customer Operations Apprentice Review

As a Customer Operations Apprentice my role is to amend and update peoples agreements on cars they have with us. This includes activating their agreement and checking everything is correct, terminating their agreement early, billing them for any damage made to the car and arranging a collection and inspection for them. My role includes liaising with customers and employees on a day-to-day basis. Within my role of being an apprentice, I move to a different department every four months where I learn new processes, skills and how the business works in other areas. I started off in Retail Customer Services and have recently moved to New Business, where I am training to be on the Phones as well completing my other processes.

When I first started VWFS, I was put into the engagement team. This allowed me to develop my team work skills as well as my communication skills. It allowed me to speak and work with new people I had never met before which made me gain confidence and adapt to the way they work. My role has helped me with my time management skills and knowing what work to prioritise when working different processes. When I was in Retail Customer Services, my team leader made me do various presentations for him which is something I find challenging but this allowed me to develop my presentation skills and improved my ability to create good PowerPoint's and slides. I have also learnt new skills when using computers and different software's, because prior to my apprenticeship I had never used any of the systems they use at VWFS. I had a whole day training course on Excel, which I found beneficial as I had never really used Excel to that extent. I am currently phone training in New Business which is allowing me to develop my communication skills further.

Within the first few weeks, adapting to an office environment was a challenge for me as I had never worked in it before but getting to know new people and working in new teams, has made the experience a lot more enjoyable. Moving to a new departments every few months means that everyday feels different and it doesn't feel like we are doing the same thing over and over and makes me develop new skills that I wouldn't get by staying in one department, which I think makes the whole programme more valuable and exciting. To a great extent, I am enjoying my programme so far.

For the first few weeks of the programme, I was unsure of what I should be doing and what accesses I had to any systems and it felt like the people in the department were unsure too which made the beginning of the programme harder, but after about 3 weeks I started to be trained on new processes and was getting more of an idea what I would be doing day-to-day. After a couple of months, I felt comfortable in what I was doing. When I was getting to the end of my first department, not many people seemed to know where we were moving to or when, which was slightly frustrating but since then I have been given a time table for my rotations. Since moving to New Business, I have done nearly two weeks of training and have been told what the plans are for the next few weeks, which makes me feel more relaxed and has felt as though the department is organised.

Since being at VWFS, I feel as though I have received a lot of support from Team Leaders and Seniors within each department, whilst being in Retail Customer Services, I had monthly check ins with my team leader and I would have group check-ins with the other apprentices in the office with our manager. Also whenever I have needed to ask for help, any of the advisors have always been willing too and it has never felt like an inconvenience. I have received lots of emails and training courses form HR which has helped me develop more and quicker than I would have without them.

Since starting our apprenticeship, I have had monthly meetings and phone calls from my training providing which have been helpful to a certain extent, but I feel like I should be set more tasks and be told more ways in which I can achieve the best result and gain the most I can out of the qualification. I feel like a couple of the tasks have been set just because I need to submit something, not because it is helping me with the qualification. I feel like I haven't really been told how I get marked and how I complete the whole qualification eg the portfolio.

The qualification as a whole is about Automotive Finance so the content I learn is easily transferrable to my everyday role. I feel it has helped me understand certain situations and vocabulary better, when working within the office. I think it has helped me perform better to a certain extent but I think the actual training I have been doing has helped me excel in my role too. Some of the topics I have studied has helped me understand the business environment internally but has also helped me to understand what affects the business externally.

When I was in Retail Customer Services, they had a team called the engagement team, this is where they ran different games and activities within the office to make the environment more fun and to make employees feel motivated. When I first started, I was picked to be in the team which made me feel more involved within the office as well as expanding my network of friends. By being in this team, I interacted and worked with people I probably would never of spoke to before and it brought together people from RCH and RCS.

Yes

I would recommend Volkswagen Financial Services to a friend because I feel like the support they have given me has been really beneficial and the experience you can gain can help you in future roles within the business or elsewhere. I also feel like I have lots of opportunities being opened up to me and feel like the skills I have gained and will continue gaining will always help. I would recommend it to friends as the people here, the manager and team leaders always seem to be there if you need anything and nothing is every too much trouble. I would recommend it as people are wanting you to develop and the business is such a bug place, there is always areas to improve and move too.

I would advise them to stay calm and to not be scared, as the process seems such a daunting thing but there is always people here to help and support you. I would also advise them to be open minded and not just be aiming for one certain thing as the company is such a big place and there would be an area which would suit most peoples preferences. Being open minded means you are not restricting yourself to one certain place but are opening yourself up to many opportunities that could come along.