Alex Bainbridge – Retail Supervisor for Aramark

My apprenticeship has made me capable of achieving anything I set my mind to.

Why an apprenticeship?

I was originally employed as a retail assistant with Aramark in 2015 and received a promotion to Retail Supervisor within 6 months. From the very beginning, I was eager to improve my skill set in any way possible. My supervisor recommended I take up the Level 3 Hospitality Supervisor Apprenticeship. 

Completing an apprenticeship was a clear choice to broaden my career opportunities. Previously I’d felt pressured by education, but my apprenticeship was completely different. I was able to progress and excel early on – within the first month my conversations with colleagues and customers received more positive outcomes as I learned to adapt my communication methods to talk to each person as an individual.

Aramark provides me with a platform to motivate others and positively contribute to people’s wellbeing. My confidence, drive and passion wouldn’t be at the level it is without learning the new skills I gained from my apprenticeship.

Benefitting my business

My apprenticeship empowered me to use logic and reason in every aspect of my work at Aramark.  My confidence to manage finances soared by completing the maths sections of my qualification., This enabled me to take on additional responsibilities such as handling banking and providing management with statistics on sales percentages. Importantly, I’ve learnt that no two customers or colleagues are the same and everyone should be treated as the individual they are. This helped me improve my relationships, progressed my public speaking and increased the speed of conflict resolution.

By utilising the skills and understandings I’ve gained through my apprenticeship, I believe I’ll be able to uphold the Aramark values and be a role model to others.

The HIT Training difference

My apprenticeship opened up the vital areas of being a retail supervisor. I now have the skills and confidence to positively lead a team, manage people, resolve conflict, communicate, provide quality customer service and use maths. The regular visits and teaching materials from my HIT Training Consultant were pressure-free and I felt encouraging throughout.

The helpful, kind, yet encouraging nature of my Training Consultant made me feel at ease during my apprenticeship and gave me confidence which I’ve never felt before. Both doing the assignments for my training and being observed in my place of work aided my understanding of each aspect of the teaching covered. I now feel able to put forward new ideas and influence stakeholders on ways to improve our sales. Thanks to the help of my HIT Training Consultant, I’m capable of becoming a manager one day. Now I have completed my apprenticeship, I’m capable of doing anything I set my mind to.