Commercial Executive Review

I am a Commercial Executive in the Discounters team within customer development (Sales). This involves completing the financial administration for the customer account managers and specific category. I look after the personal care category across 8 customers, in which my daily tasks include tracking processing invoices, manual pricing, setting up customer pricing and promotions. Monthly tasks involve rebate review and rebate changes.

I have learnt an array of new skills which include communication, Excel skills as a result of taking an internal intermediate excel training and also ESRA training. I have developed problem solving skills as a result of being more independent in my role and as a result more decision making. I have also further developed my interpersonal skills within my role through teamwork and meeting new people and building working relationships.

I really enjoy my apprenticeship programme, I am learning something everyday and have built really good relationships within the business and my team. I feel really supported within the company culture and my team have been extremely supportive and providing new opportunities to me. I love the company culture and meeting more than my expectations. I enjoy my work and understanding my personal responsibility in my role and my responsibility as a wider team, I have developed my skills in real business such as problem solving.

The apprenticeship programme is well structured, we had a couple of introductions before our programme started which included an induction with our contract consultant and then an induction with everyone on the programme in the London office. the Next day we had induction in our own offices and inductions with my new team and 1-1 basis with my Line manager. There is lots of training offered internally in the business and lots of support from your team and contract consultant, there is a mentor system on offer which really helped me settle in to the wider team.

I receive lots of support from my line manager and regularly have 1-1 training and help in daily tasks if I need extra support. The HR team in the future careers are a great support in terms of the apprenticeship programme and offer great resources and support at any time and are easily reachable. Having a mentor for support is also helped me settle in well to the business and the team and has offered extra support when needed with regular catch ups. The team I'm in are extremely supportive and have a positive attitude when offering help and advice when needed.

I receive a good amount of support from my tutor, they offer guidance if I have problems with my coursework or any questions he is reachable and there to support. We have monthly catch up and also complete reviews which allow me to reflect on if I need further guidance which I can receive from my tutor, my tutor has also helped us in accessing training resources which can further enhance our skills on the apprenticeship programme.

What I'm learning in my coursework has helped me to understand better the ways of working and the advantages and disadvantages of certain aspects in my job role such as policies and procedures and communication. The theory helps me to put my understand towards how I work in my role and also develop my understanding in various parts of my job and the industry I am working in.

There are lots of various extra-curricular activities to get involved in at work, there are social events within my department such as Summer events and whole company Christmas parties. There are a number of voluntary initiatives we can sign up to as part of charities or wider sponsors the company let us know about where we can take part such as helping in food banks. There are various leisure activities and sports competitions we can take part in for example the dodge ball league and rounders tournament. Overall there are a wide range of social activities to take part in all year round and everyone can join and is a good way of socialising and building connections with new people within the business.

Yes

Unilever has been an amazing opportunity for me both socially and in my development, there is a wide range of opportunities internally and externally. I have developed a number of skills and the support from my team and the wider business has allowed me to develop myself further and build stronger working relationships with others. I have had so much offered in terms of development and there is a great attitude towards apprentices and our work within. I am able to learn to achieve a qualification and work at the same time in a FMCG consumer goods company and contribute to the work within the company and has been one of the best opportunities I have been given.

As an employer they look for your skills and what you can demonstrate and more importantly what you can offer as a person too. Understand and research the Company to understand and build an understanding in what the company has done and what makes it different to other companies. The assessment days are not as scary as you would think and is really just a day to connect with the other apprentices and the assessors and to show who you are and your qualities you can offer to them. Be yourself and make the most of the day and keep your spirit levels high!