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HOPPE News

 National Apprenticeship Week 2022

 

A day in the life of a business administration apprentice

Aimee Parry, sales administrator at HOPPE (UK), has just completed a two-year business administration apprenticeship. Although no two days are the same, Aimee shares with us what a typical working day can look like.

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I joined HOPPE (UK) in September 2019 from the Walsall Academy in Wolverhampton. I wanted to try a career in sales and thought an apprenticeship would be good to give me an understanding of what’s involved.

I’ve had lots of support from my manager, Glen Butler, and I’ve learned all aspects of business administration as part of my Level 3 qualification.

During Covid, I had a short period of time when I was furloughed and then gradually eased back into work by coming into the office a few days a week.

If we hadn’t had Covid to deal with, I would have gone to college for a day each week but instead, I’ve done college work and group workshops online, with a teacher from the college coming to see me at the office once a month to catch up with my progress.

A day in the life of a business apprentice

My working day usually starts at 8.30am. I check all my emails and deal with any urgent queries. Throughout the day I will make sure that all customer questions are dealt with.

Sometimes I’ll receive a call about the price for a product or I’ll need to go and find an alternative product if something isn’t in stock. At first, I didn’t really know how to answer product enquiries but now I’ve built up a good knowledge having had lots of training in-house.

We have a meeting each week to tell us about the latest products and any changes in prices or availability. We have on-going product training as and when there’s something new added to a range.

I’ve had customer service training at HOPPE so I’m confident when speaking to customers on the phone. During the day, I’ll deal with calls and emails and queries. For example, if a customer has a question about when to expect their delivery, I will contact the courier and get an update on the status for them.

There might be a question about a price or an account query, so I will do all the admin for that and make sure everything is recorded correctly in the customer’s file. I also check that orders have been entered into our system correctly to avoid any errors, and I generate pick notes for the warehouse.

If there’s something I don’t understand, everyone at HOPPE is happy to help and explain it to me. The best thing about the job is the people. They’re really nice and helpful.

At 5pm, I make sure my emails are up to date and the filing is done, then switch off for the day.

Life after an apprenticeship

I’ve now had some experience of doing product promotions and I’m really looking forward to starting my next phase of training next year. I’m starting the Guild of Architectural Ironmongery (GAI) Foundation in Hardware which will give me a good base knowledge of ironmongery products, and after completing the Diploma programme and CPD, I’ll be able to become a Registered Architectural Ironmonger.

There are lots of people at HOPPE who have been here for a long time and it’s interesting to see how they’ve moved around the company in different functions as they’ve progressed over the years.

Apprenticeships at HOPPE (UK)

Nearly a third of the UK team has been with the business for over 10 years, with two staff members achieving their 25 years’ service award this year. If you are interested in joining our staff at HOPPE (UK) and starting an apprenticeship with us, please contact [email protected].