The Student Room Group

Did I do something wrong on my apprenticeship trial?

I recently had an unpaid trial with a retail apprenticeship and was unsuccessful. The feedback I got back was that I didn't follow instructions and didn't show enough initiative. I did everything that the "supervisor" asked me to. A lot of the time they was busy and asked their coworkers to show me what to do. I don't know what there was to show initiative about. I did everything asked of me and the store was fairly quiet most of the time or when it was busy they put me on the till and expected me to know how to perfectly work it after someone who clearly didn't know what they were doing attempted to explain it. The supervisor didn't seem interested in me at all and expected me to know what to do between me finishing the current task and them telling me what to do after they had finished catching up on their late work. I helped another worker whilst I was waiting but as I don't work there I don't know how things are run and I thought the idea was I'd learn what to do. I tried my hardest and was always polite but does it seem like I did something wrong or that they didn't care much? Thanks.
Original post by Days_
I recently had an unpaid trial with a retail apprenticeship and was unsuccessful. The feedback I got back was that I didn't follow instructions and didn't show enough initiative. I did everything that the "supervisor" asked me to. A lot of the time they was busy and asked their coworkers to show me what to do. I don't know what there was to show initiative about. I did everything asked of me and the store was fairly quiet most of the time or when it was busy they put me on the till and expected me to know how to perfectly work it after someone who clearly didn't know what they were doing attempted to explain it. The supervisor didn't seem interested in me at all and expected me to know what to do between me finishing the current task and them telling me what to do after they had finished catching up on their late work. I helped another worker whilst I was waiting but as I don't work there I don't know how things are run and I thought the idea was I'd learn what to do. I tried my hardest and was always polite but does it seem like I did something wrong or that they didn't care much? Thanks.


Apprenticeships are rubbish. You should be glad

Posted from TSR Mobile
Lol why do we have retail assistant "apprenticeship", name and shame the people who were using you for free labour.
Original post by Days_
I recently had an unpaid trial with a retail apprenticeship and was unsuccessful. The feedback I got back was that I didn't follow instructions and didn't show enough initiative. I did everything that the "supervisor" asked me to. A lot of the time they was busy and asked their coworkers to show me what to do. I don't know what there was to show initiative about. I did everything asked of me and the store was fairly quiet most of the time or when it was busy they put me on the till and expected me to know how to perfectly work it after someone who clearly didn't know what they were doing attempted to explain it. The supervisor didn't seem interested in me at all and expected me to know what to do between me finishing the current task and them telling me what to do after they had finished catching up on their late work. I helped another worker whilst I was waiting but as I don't work there I don't know how things are run and I thought the idea was I'd learn what to do. I tried my hardest and was always polite but does it seem like I did something wrong or that they didn't care much? Thanks.


Was it at NEXT or Marks and Spencer?

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 4
Original post by maggie43
Was it at NEXT or Marks and Spencer?

Posted from TSR Mobile


Nope. I don't want to say the name because it's a smaller local shop. I shall not be making the same mistake again though.
Reply 5
Original post by Trevormacdonald
Lol why do we have retail assistant "apprenticeship", name and shame the people who were using you for free labour.


I really don't know. I shall not be applying for another retail apprenticeship and falling for it again. To be honest I thought that it would be different from just a normal sales assistant job since it's an apprenticeship. I thought I wouldn't just be doing all the things that manager didn't have time for or waiting for them to think of something for me to do. It was probably stupid and naive of me not to realise but oh well I guess I've learnt my lesson now.
I really don't get retail apprenticeships, how are they different from just being a sales assistant? Surely they just stick a label on it so they can get cheaper labour, or in your case, free labour.
Original post by Days_
I really don't know. I shall not be applying for another retail apprenticeship and falling for it again. To be honest I thought that it would be different from just a normal sales assistant job since it's an apprenticeship. I thought I wouldn't just be doing all the things that manager didn't have time for or waiting for them to think of something for me to do. It was probably stupid and naive of me not to realise but oh well I guess I've learnt my lesson now.

There are lots of good apprenticeships out there. Don't be put off by the bad ones. Try to get some sort of training or go to uni, don't wanna be stuck in a dead end job, trust me.......
Original post by Trevormacdonald
There are lots of good apprenticeships out there. Don't be put off by the bad ones. Try to get some sort of training or go to uni, don't wanna be stuck in a dead end job, trust me.......


Yeah I agree I'm doing an apprenticeship atm and I've ended up working with a lot of people doing the same job as me but they've spent 3 years at uni and I'm just doing a year apprenticeship.
Original post by bethwalker85
Yeah I agree I'm doing an apprenticeship atm and I've ended up working with a lot of people doing the same job as me but they've spent 3 years at uni and I'm just doing a year apprenticeship.

Oh thats great, what is the apprenticeship in btw. Good luck.
Original post by Trevormacdonald
Oh thats great, what is the apprenticeship in btw. Good luck.


It's a digital marketing one :smile:

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