GTO UK Customer Operations Administrator Apprentice Review

Within my role on a day-to-day basis my main responsibilities involve the following: • Undertaking apprenticeship programme training and updating portfolio of evidence on a regular basis • Efficient, prompt and accurate standard order entry and in accordance with Customer specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and requirements as documented in the Customer Knowledge Database • Processing of sales orders in line with process specification and requirements utilising a variety of system tools. • Checking purchase orders to ensure all details are correct • Liaising with Purchasing, Sales Order Management and Customer Management where required • Liaising with internal service providers to obtain information relating to sales order processing • Enable high customer satisfaction through effective (first time right) and efficient processing of orders • Processing returns in accordance with SLA • Resolving standard order and invoices queries (as received) promptly • Developing a good understanding of IT systems used. • Due Date Management – Responsible for updating due dates in CC SAP system and ongoing management • Delivery Discrepancies & AP invoice management – processing of delivery and invoice discrepancies to ensure timely resolution • Direct Delivery Booking In – Booking in of Direct Deliveries based on AP triggers • Undertaking relevant training courses

Within my role I have learnt new skills and developed my existing skills. For example, some of the new skills I have learnt within my role include organisation, communication, public speaking and presenting skills, networking within the business, dealing with conflicts, and much more. I have been able to develop more on my communication skills, IT skills and my problem solving skills through day-to-day work , workshops and training, great resources provided to me and more.

I have enjoyed my time and experience at computacenter and have overall enjoyed the amazing culture of people there. Within my apprenticeship, I have enjoyed being able to learn whilst also doing the full time job role at the same time. The apprenticeship has had a good amount of work and a lot of resources and help has been available, however the only downside is that as I started coming towards the end of the apprenticeship around the 12 month mark, despite the sudden need to get a lot of work done and my end point assessments ready to complete, there was little support available for me compared to previously within the apprenticeship. That lack of support has left me with a lot of stress and worries of not being able to complete the end of the apprenticeship unfortunately.

Throughout the entire apprenticeship it has been well organised and structured, with details on when tasks needed completing and information on them on our OneFile pages. Our studying has a specific day set aside for us each week where we can concentrate on our work, and we are able to identify what needs to currently be done. The only downfall would once again be the lack of organisation and structure towards the end of the apprenticeship, where things seem to get both stressful and blurred.

Regarding support I receive from my employer, I would say it is almost perfect. We are given a specific day we can do our learning and have even been given extra hours throughout the working week to complete tasks where we may need to be behind. I have found that whenever I am struggling with a task, unsure on what to do for it, or have not got enough time to complete it, I know that I can go to my employer and have a 1-2-1 session where we discuss what we can do going forward. The only downfall for me is that when times can be stressful, there can sometimes be a mindset of "just get on with it." It is important we continue with our work, but also just as important we manage our stress levels.

The support I receive from my training provider depends on whether they are too busy or not, unfortunately. At the start of the apprenticeship, getting in contact and gaining support from my training provider was easy, however now that I am coming to the end it is proving almost impossible to find time in my tutors schedule that also fits around my work-load. Meetings are started ten minutes late, I can never get meetings in on my study day and end up having to take time throughout my busy workload to have a meeting, meaning more stress and feeling behind on both work and studying. The support used to be wonderful, but went downhill very quickly and suddenly towards the 12 month mark of the apprenticeship.

I feel that my qualification and my job role do not have much in common, apart from the fact that I work within a business, and my qualification is business. My role consists of Sales and manually inputting data into a computer, whereas my qualification involves running of businesses, policies, laws, regulations, internal and external factors and more. These all link to the business I work in but do not tie in much with my actual daily activities.

There are lots of extra curricular activities that I can take part in within my work. So far, me and my team have been able to go to multiple events such as conferences, webinars, days out doing fun activities, meals out and much more. I know of many more activities coming up in the near future, and it is always easy to talk about getting another event started with the team.

Yes

The best thing about Computacenter is the people. The people I work with are amazing, including everyone on my floor and within the building. I have never once had trouble with anyone at Computacenter and the overall culture within the business is one that I have not seen before. People are willing to help and get involved, and even during stressful work days its always easy to have a good conversation with the people around you to make yourself feel better. The work itself is easy to start , especially if you have no previous experience, as the training I had was very good and I was able to understand easily.

Ensure that it is what you want to do. This is an office job which involves being seated for long amounts of time at a computer. This can not always be for everyone, and its important to know that your work means doing that (for my type of role specifically). Another tip would be to do research. Computacenter are a unique business in that your role is very computacenter specific. Having knowledge first about the company can help you understand what you are applying for and will help you in the interview stage.