Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship Review
at Dunelm
Degree Apprenticeship
Retail Manager
Worcester
Review Submitted: March 2024
Overall Rating
3.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
-
Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3.6/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
Working and training in store at Dunelm in preparation to become store managers by the end of the apprenticeship, alongside completing our degree in management we will be trained in different areas of the store to gather as much experience before it's time to become a manager
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
I agree to a good extent that I enjoy my programme, it provides a lot more experiences than I would gain from a normal job or degree, I enjoy my day to day job developing new skills and learning new things about the business
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
New skills I have been able to develop include a lot of self management skills, having to manage both effective progression amongst the business and maintaining the degree element to a strong standard requires good time management skills, as well as good management of others in stores
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
The plan for our step up pathway throughout different positions within store is well structured and provides a clear outline, whereas at times it can be more difficult to pencil in time for uni based OTJ hours, particularly when stores are busy
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
I believe I receive strong levels of support from Dunelm as I have a number of points of call should it be required, I have both my line manager in store as well as certain colleagues that provide training alongside a support team in head office for anything that cannot be solved in store
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
This can be dependant on how busy we are in stores, if there is a lot to do work related it can be more difficult to get time and support for uni work but Dunelm are flexible should we need to remove ourselves from work for a few hours in order to have time for assignments etc...
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
It helps in the understanding of how a business runs and thinking about time management skills to balance not only uni work, but logging OTJ hours and building up our portfolio, attending uni allows for deeper thinking during the work day into how what you are working on is being influenced by uni and vice versa
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
3/5
There are good opportunities to network with head office, particularly people on graduate schemes, as well as good opportunities for social activities within store to build strong relationships with colleagues
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Dunelm to a friend?
Yes
Why?
It is an interesting company to work for that allows you to provide strong relationships with colleagues both in store and other apprentices, as well as gaining new experiences through the degree element of the role
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Dunelm?
Learn to be flexible as it is unlikely that everything will go exactly how you imagine, and pace yourself as there is a lot to learn and it won't all be attainable at once
