Business Development Review

by Howdens

Best Apprenticeship Employer

Rating

9/10

1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

A typical day for me is sorting out paper work in the morning, making and taking calls to sort out any customer orders or complaints, sometimes jumping on the counter and serving customers face to face, I follow up on customers interests and try to get them in and trading

9/10

2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

I have gotten much better on computers from my new job, as well as my selling skills and overall just general communication skills over the phone and in person. I have gained the confidence to speak with the traders and know what they want as I have developed product knowledge from my time here.

9/10

3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

I enjoy my job role quite a lot, sometimes customers can be rude if something has gone wrong and they make it out to be your fault but being able to not take it personally make it easy to deal with. I like who I work with and its my favourite job I've done.

9/10

4. How well organised/structured is your programme?

I see my apprenticeship leader once a month in person for updates and setting me new work, however he is free to call whenever I need, the course work was confusing at first but he helped me and cleared it up and now I can get it done quickly and to a good standard

9/10

5. How much support do you receive from your employer?

Any time I am unaware or stuck on a task or call I have people around me that I can turn to for help, I have one to one meetings with my employer once a month to discuss what's going well and to set targets for the following month

9/10

6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

My apprenticeship leader helps me out whenever I need, he's always available for a phone call and knows exactly what I need to do for every task so he's a big help, The online website for my course is also easy to navigate and provides the criteria

9/10

7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

The training helps me be better because I can see examples of people who have done the same course before me and what they did to exceed targets in the role. also I am learning the core values of the customer service and what you need to do to make sales and make customers happy

9/10

8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

Me and a couple of the other lads from work have decided to join a five a side football team after work that's quite close by, I feel this will bring us all closer together and be a way to end the week on a high even if its been a tough one

9/10

9a. Would you recommend Howdens to a friend?

Yes

9b. Why?

Howdens has been the best job I've had, there are so many incentives all the time, Christmas and holiday gifts from the bigger bosses, money towards Depot meals and parties. The hours are somewhat flexible and there are always opportunities for you to move up the ladder as far as you please as long as you work hard.

10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Howdens?

Even if you're applying to the job role you don't quite fancy, such as you wanted office but you got warehouse, you can always move around if you show that you'll work hard, Time keeping and work ethic are the main things to doing well working at Howdens