Higher Business Apprentice Review

As a Higher Business Apprentice, I will rotate around the Supply Chain Functions alongside studying towards my Leadership and Management Degree and CMI Qualification. This means I will get 6 months in Sourcing, Materials, Operations, Planning, Quality and other rotations such as Logistics, Data Quality, Supplier Quality and more. My current rotation is in Sourcing, where I have weekly calls with suppliers, run reports, raise Purchase Orders, have weekly team meetings, analyse and interpret data, answer queries and more.

During the duration of my first rotation, I have developed and learnt many new skills. For example, I have developed my excel knowledge and skills, as this is a tool I use on a daily basis. I have learnt how to use formula such as VLOOKUP, MATCH, JOINTEXT and also how to use pivot tables. I have also developed my presentation skills and confidence with group speaking.

I am currently really enjoying my programme. It was initially scary coming into such a big business, but I have had lots of support around me to enable to me settle in, and grow and develop. I have had a variety of opportunities on the programme so far, such as visiting suppliers, hosting suppliers, organising and planning a team social event and organising and planning an apprentice residential.

I believe the programme I am on is well organised and structured. There is a 2-week induction for new apprentices where they do the corporate company training and some time on placement to help ensure a smooth transition. Everyone moves rotation at the same time and there are "core" rotations everyone will complete.

As an apprentice, we get a line manager and a rotation manager. We typically report to our rotation manager on a day-to-day basis as we are learning and developing in that rotation, so we would go to this manager for support on our work. Our line manager is there for support on a wider basis. We also have support from our university lecture and other colleagues in our team.

We receive as much or little support as we require from our training provider. We have a dedicated University lecture who works with us on a weekly basis in group sizes of 7-10. This allows for additional support as we have regularly check-ins and we are able to contact our lecture via email or text at any point and get a response within the same day 9/10 times.

Although I have only completed module 1 (as I am new to the business) I feel like my qualification is already helping me develop in my role. It is encouraging me to reflect on my performance and recognise how I prefer to learn, how I prefer to work in groups and how I like to be managed. It has also allowed me to relate the theory I am learning in the workplace and be more aware of what is happening around me.

There are a wide variety of extra-curricular actives which I can get involved in. There are enrichment teams such as residential planning, social network and more. There are professional networking events such as careers fairs, or air shows, or visiting other company sites. There are also sports teams such as football, basketball and Yoga or circuits classes.

Yes

I would highly recommend this scheme to a friend, not only are you receiving a salary but your degree is being funded by the company. As well as not having to pay for the degree yourself, you get at least 4 years of practical hands on work experience with high accountability / responsibility roles and get to experience a variety of roles to understand what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy working on.

My biggest bit of advise would be to be real and personal in your application. Be honest with why your interested in the scheme / company and show what your passionate about. As this is an early careers role, they are not expecting you to have rafts of work experience, but they are looking to find people who have a genuine interest to learn and develop.