Technical Sales Apprentice Review

My role changed throughout the year. The first few months I was support for a number of teams in my department. The next role I was helping to drive a campaign for Microsoft Online Services across a large number of the accounts in our sector. The third role was dedicated support to a sales specialist, helping to take care of the internal processes and start getting greater customer interaction.

I have learnt and developed a number of skills throughout my time at Vodafone. These have included on the job and off the job training. The apprenticeship side helped to learn the basics of selling etc, and the day to day role side helped to understand more about the business. These skills included prioritization, organisation, communication and more.

I have now off-boarded into a permanent role however highly enjoyed the apprenticeship role I had previously. I was lucky to have gotten fantastic exposure to various parts of the business, which a lot was down to the support from SLT and my manager who deeply believed in youth development.

The Intequal side was highly structured, with week training sessions every 5 weeks and coursework to be completed outside of the sessions. The on the job structure was less due to being the first year of sales apprentices at Vodafone. However my managers were able to provide as much structure as possible and keep us busy.

A lot. The company as a whole is fantastic in terms of support, then you get down to the people you work with on a daily basis and your manager. I have the full support I need to fulfill my role to the best of my abilities. VF scores highly for this in my eyes.

I feel as if I received a good level of support from Intequal, however feel like this could have been better. At various points many of us felt confused and lost with what was left to do and how to action these last criteria in our coursework. I feel like there could have been more direction to help.

In all honesty, not much at all. The role is more sales support rather than actual selling which our course was based upon. My main development has come from learning on the job rather than the Intequal aspects. I suppose by trying to hit criteria it has helped me change a few ways of working but nothing big.

Lots. Through the workplace site there are multiple groups, chats, events to join and socialise. Every so often our department has a 2 day event with training and information followed by a social after (Food and drink). I feel that this has helped me to build relationships with a number of people.

Yes

Vodafone provides great support at a company and colleague level. The paths for progression are vast and the exposure you get with other business units helps to build an understanding of the business. The people are great, the opportunities are great, the support is great and even the pay is!

i would firstly suggest to not being shy, Ask questions for the areas you do not understand. Make a name for yourself, step up for all challenges, specialise in an area, whatever it takes for people to recognise your name and build that personal profile. Network, this can help to speed up work if someone you know well has an action from you, this can help get the work done faster.