Rich our Marketing Procurement Team Manager is studying for the CIPS Diploma in Procurement and Supply alongside his role. Read on to find out more about his experience so far:

How have you found the apprenticeship so far? 

The apprenticeship has been very well structured, which has been very helpful in supporting the learning curve required with changing department/role. The support available within CIPS is excellent - the tutors are deeply invested in ensuring that modules are fully understood and support exam preparations with an array of activities.

What has been your biggest learning so far? 

Where my career within Lidl historically has been in Operations Management roles, I needed to rapidly get up to speed with best practices around Procurement responsibilities within Marketing and ensure optimal engagement of internal and external stakeholders. The apprenticeship has been invaluable with supporting that transition and enabling me to rapidly add value in different context to those I worked within previously. 

How do you use your apprenticeship learnings in your day to day role? 

The apprenticeship learnings have been invaluable in supporting several tenders that were completed in late-2022, with more to be reviewed this year as well. There are various ways for our processes to be refined and further optimising budgetary performance. Relationships with our print suppliers have been strengthened by clearly treating these as partnerships (rather than transactional) which enables collective input around our strategic objectives.

How are you currently using your off the job training?

Drilling into longer-term focused ways of working e.g collaborating on Continuous  Improvement Plans, setting various degrees of prioritisation. The training allows me to prepare suitable project plans for projects at varying scales of complexity and cost. 

What are the three words you would use to describe your apprenticeship journey? 

Constructive, empowering and rewarding.