Retail Apprenticeships

[fairdealworld]

I posted a query some months back when I was thinking of employing a retail apprentice, here is the original thread:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=258724&highlight=apprentices

I've since taken the plunge and five weeks ago a retail apprentice started work in my shop. I'm as new to the apprenticeship concept as is the apprentice so hopefully we are learning together.

I'm starting this thread in the hope that other employers with apprentices may chime in (or that the apprentices might do so themselves). Obviously I'd be especially interested in small business responses from the retail sector. I know that 'Next' for example take apprentices but my own small retail business is very very different to 'Next', so different in fact that I actually think an apprentice in my own small business might get a wider range of experience than an apprentice in somewhere like 'Next' but obviously that is a personal prejudice

Any small or smaller retail business out there got an apprentice or apprentices? If so I'd love to exchange notes with you. I feel I've been very lucky with the apprentice I appointed. She's working hard for me, I want in return to give her the best possible prospects for her future career. I've got ideas of my own obviously and am trying to carry those out but I'd like to know how other retailers (or similar small businesses) train their apprentices.

N.B. If you do have an apprentice there is a dedicated forum and spin-offs (Facebook Page, Twitter feed, etc) for apprentices started up by an apprentice but where employers are welcome too:

http://www.apprenticeforums.co.uk/

 

[RTriggerHappy]

Hi fairdealworld,

I'm currently an apprentice for a rather small web development company.

I know I'm not within the retail sector but my company is very small (just four fully qualified staff and two apprentices).

I'm set to finish my apprenticeship on the 6th December so I've almost completed my full term.

I think the only advice I can give is to try to afford some time in your day to focus on spending time with your apprentice. I understand this can be extremely hard within a small business, but I feel that is the one thing my employer maybe could have done a little better.

I have learned a lot in my time at my company, but I feel this learning curve would've been greatly increased had my employer spent an hour or two more a week where they spent time solely with me and discussed how things were going.

Again I know it can be hard to afford the time but something I find extremely useful are monthly plenary meetings that review my progress and set goals for the forthcoming month.

If you have any questions about my experiences please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[fairdealworld]

Thanks so much RTriggerHappy, this is the sort of information I need.

You've pointed up something which was beginning to nag at the back of my mind which is that although my apprentice and are are working together much of the time we don't sit down and review things. The problem is less time than space to be honest as it is a small shop and there is almost always at least one other staff member around. After reading your post I got around this yesterday by getting the other member of staff on duty to go home early.

We spent the hour going through part of the workbook the apprentice has to complete for her tutor/assessor. I know she likes the tutor but I've been worried that when I ask him things the answers are a bit vague. Until now when I've just casually asked her how she felt about the 'course' (as opposed to anything I teach her on a day to day basis - but teaching her what I think she needs to be able to do and understand is a far cry from the course itself) and was she quite clear about what she'd been asked to do the answer has always been a very firm yes. Yesterday as we went through the workbook together it came out that though she understands some bits of it very clearly, she is very confused about other bits, and she admitted to me that she'd specifically asked the tutor about some of the things but been left confused by rather vague answers.

I've decided to try to book in that particular hour for us to have a discussion every week and also as you suggest to have a monthly review with her and plan for the coming month. I've also said that I'll try to pin down the assessor on certain issues.

Did you attend college or was it a tutor/assessor visiting the business? I'd like to know how relevant you found the official 'course' to the day to day job and what your employer expected of you? The retail 'course' seems a bit odd to me or at least it is okay but there seems to be a lot of stuff missing I'd regard as important.

Lynn

 

[RTriggerHappy]

Hi Lynn,

I'm glad you found some of my feedback helpful, I hope the regular meetings will improve the relationship you have with your apprentice.

As you can access apprenticeships via a multitude of avenues, the way apprenticeships can be run will vary. For example all my 'coursework' is completed on an online portfolio. The questions I am required to answer can be extremely ambiguous at times, so I can sympathise with your apprentice on that.

I find I have to really put the pressure on my tutor at the training academy to help out in some instances and my line manager at work very much focuses on teaching me things I need to know for the company, as opposed to for my portfolio. I think if you do have the time to help out your apprentice with their 'coursework' side of things it will most definitely help.

For the most part my tutor visits me at my place of work and we go through assessments then, this happened once every 2-3 months. I was also required to attend three week-long courses with tests at the end as part of an IT accreditation. (I'm not sure if retail apprenticeships have a similar format).

The 'coursework', in my opinion, has not helped me develop any skills; it is more about proving you know/can do something than progressing your skills. The week-long courses were quite good teaching me things I've always just taken as true without giving them much thought to how they work.

The most valuable thing to me has been the experience. I know this sounds a little cliché but it truly is. You can never be trained to anticipate all situations so just being exposed to experiences has helped me develop my responses. For example I was never very good with answering calls professionally. I wasn't terrible but I wasn't aware of the conventions to answering customer calls, but through experience this is something that has become a strong point.

To your apprentice I say keep at the 'coursework'. It may not be 100% relevant but having something against your name that proves you're committed is only a good thing.

If you have any other questions let me know, If you want to discuss things feel free to PM me and I can give you my email/number. I don't claim to be an expert but I have had the recent experience of being an apprentice.

Regards,
Ant

 

[fairdealworld]

Thanks for this again Ant.

Yes the structure of the apprenticeship is somewhat different to yours but we are coming up against the ambiguous question thing combined with the difficulty of pinning down the tutor thing! It is interesting, and reassuring, to know that you've encountered the same difficulty.

Yes I agree the great thing is the experience. My apprentice has already realised that though working in a very small shop makes 'the course' more difficult (because it seems to be written with much larger retail organisations in mind), she's already doing bits of admin stuff that a sales assistant in a larger store would not encounter and this will be another string to her bow when she looks for the next step in her career.

Thanks for the invitation to PM you, an offer I'll probably be taking up sooner or later.