A catch up with the SK apprentices!

Back in September last year, Sylvester Keal were pleased to welcome two new apprentices to the business, showing our support for those wishing to start their careers in the foodservice industry.

As a business, our vision is to help nurture young people who are interested in working within this sector and helping them to get their foot on the career ladder, which is why we took on Ben and Holly.

Ben and Holly joined Sylvester Keal on their apprenticeships 10 months ago, with Ben taking on a Business Administration apprenticeship and Holly taking on a Sales apprenticeship, which are both in partnership with the Grimsby Institute of Further Education.

In Ben’s role, he has been the first point of contact when customers phone the department in an event of an equipment breakdown or for any general enquiries. He has also been responsible for contacting customers to provide them with any updates and informing them when the engineers will be attending.

Since starting his apprenticeship, Ben has learnt many new skills and gained an insight into how the business runs, how specific appliances work and how to correctly answer the phone to customers, which has also improved his confidence. 

As well as this, Ben has been able to develop his knowledge on spare parts and has become much more familiar with the service side of Sylvester Keal and how this department runs daily.

For Ben, his apprenticeship has opened up so many opportunities for him in the future through his new-found knowledge and the experience he has gained, and he plans to continue to gain as many skills as possible.

Ben said: “My apprenticeship has really helped me in so many ways and I feel like I have matured both in and outside of the business since I started here. I’ve learnt so many new things that will help me in my career and I enjoy that each day brings with it something completely different.

“At Sylvester Keal, I have been able to meet new people and improve my confidence when dealing with customers through my apprenticeship. I really enjoy working with my colleagues in the service department and everyone is happy to help each other as we are all one big team.”

Over in the sales department, Holly has been covering telesales operation for the business and has quickly built a rapport with both customers and colleagues, whilst also expanding on her product knowledge.

In the last 10 months, Holly has regularly dealt with different types of customers and has independently dealt with different challenges that she has sometimes been faced with. As well as this, she has also learnt the importance of supply and demand and has become more familiar with products and product codes.

Within her role, Holly has also learnt how to effectively manage her time when completing a range of tasks, which is something that has helped her greatly when working in a fast-paced environment.

Similar to Ben, Holly’s apprenticeship has allowed her to develop her confidence which has led to her learning how to use equipment, such as the computer system to put on orders, and how to communicate with customers over the phone using sales techniques.

Holly said: “I feel like I have progressed so much since starting my apprenticeship and Sylvester Keal is such a great place to work. The people I work with are so helpful and have taught me so much about the industry. 

“Through my apprenticeship, I was nominated for the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ award through college and I was also nominated as ‘Star Apprentice’ from my employer. This has definitely been one of my greatest highlights since starting my apprenticeship and I’d really like to learn more about the industry and the different departments within the business.”

Sylvester Keal would like to congratulate Ben and Holly on their success with their apprenticeships – they have both worked extremely hard and picked up new skills whilst developing their knowledge of the industry. A huge well done!

Read our previous blog on Ben and Holly here www.sylvesterkeal.co.uk/blog/sk-continue-their-support-for-apprentices 

If you would like to learn more about Sylvester Keal’s apprenticeships, get in touch on 01472 352033.