March Apprentice of the Month - Will Nijjer
We are happy to announce that the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Will @ The Gary Smith Partnership!
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach, James - over the past few months Will has shown real determination and dedication to his Level 4 Salesforce Consultant apprenticeship!
We received some wonderful feedback from Will’s line manager Gary, as well as other fantastic nominees, which you can read below!
Will’s Skills Coach:
Will is heavily involved in working directly with clients both independently and as part of the Gary Smith Team. His technical knowledge in the Salesforce environment is superb and has become indispensable to the Gary Smith Partnership. Will is going beyond the Business Analyst role and is learning project management tools as well to ensure he is an accomplished employee.
He has overcome a number of personal challenges and has worked very hard on his apprenticeship.
Will’s Line Manager
Energy:
Will’s calm approach belies the amount of effort and thought he puts into his work. Will is deeply involved in two major client projects over the last two months (Applanix and BTG), and both have required consistently high levels of concentration and commitment.
Will has also made a concerted effort to catch up with his course work, which he has done chiefly outside working hours.
Enthusiasm:
In the case of Applanix, the work has involved going through the contracts that Applanix has with their customers and mapping how the pricing modules will function within a custom Salesforce configuration tool we have developed. This work necessitates a deep concentration and effort, which Will has approached throughout with dedication and commitment. The customer is delighted with the work Will has completed.
In the case of BTG, Will has led the project rather than playing a support role. The project needed someone to get to the bottom of some complex requirements, and Will has done this with enthusiasm. I believe he now understands the customers’ processes in this area better than they do!
Willingness To Learn:
Fulfilling the customer’s requirements on the BTG project meant developing a series of very complex Flows within Salesforce. This technology was new to Will. However, he has progressed to an excellent level of expertise through a combination of self-learning using online materials and a series of 1.1 sessions with a more experienced colleague. This colleague reports that Will is a quick learner and thinks logically about how the system functions.
Will is also learning more about the business dynamics of our customers. He’s got to grips with the operating model of one of our other customers (Aeye) developing artificial intelligence solutions for remote driving. We recently concluded a monthly retainer contract with that customer, and the client insisted that Will is the person on point for dealing with their Salesforce support needs.
Ability To Take Feedback:
I recently gave Will detailed feedback on his writing style in emails and draft Statements of Work. I wanted Will’s style to become more dynamic and personal; I’ve since noticed a significant improvement in how he engages with customers in written communications.
Will also responded well to a training session on asking open-ended questions. The next day, Will reported with enthusiasm how he had used the techniques covered in training during a call with a new prospect; as a result, both he and the potential customer learned far more in the conversation than would previously have been the case.
Propensity To Take Action:
The BTG project needs careful management of various customer stakeholders, and I’ve noticed that Will is now thinking more laterally about this. Without prompting, Will has initiated calls with the essential players and is taking them through the solution he has built into Salesforce. At one point in the project we were also concerned that it would not be possible to meet one of the interim milestones due to other customer commitments, and Will was very quick to manage BTG’s expectations on this.
Will is not embarking on a new project with a new client, Consumer Edge. He has thought-though the project plan and initiated the series of workshops and meetings needed to understand the detailed customer requirements fully. It’s a sign of his progress that he wants to undertake these meetings on his own so that he frees up my time to work on other projects and the development of the business.
Will is a popular, and respected member of the team. He is usually the first person on our regular 9 AM team call and participates with humour, humility and enthusiasm. We recently rewarded his progress with pay increase, and I’m confident that if he continues with his current trajectory he will be in line for further recognition at the end of the year.
Our runner-up for this month is Level 3 Business Administrator Apprentice Lucy Howard! Lucy was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Geeta, with feedback provided by line manager, Jerome.
Lucy’s Skills Coach:
Since starting the apprenticeship, Lucy has made a huge difference to the operations at Installation Technology and has become an integral part of the team. Lucy has shown all aspects of EEWAP across the board.
In terms of her learning, Lucy is always on top of her journals, her entries are detailed, and she is always on target with her Litmos work, which is done to the best of her ability. Lucy always thinks outside of the box and puts in 110%, she has a go and then asks for feedback to confirm her understanding.
Lucy has been scored 9s and 10s by me and her line manager this month and she full deserves these high scores as despite everything that she has been up against.
Lucy’s line manager:
Since Lucy’s been with Installation Technology, she’s been nothing but outstanding in all aspects of her work. She’s now become a very important part of our shared services team and she’s managed to build a great working relationship amongst all colleagues throughout the organisation in a very short space of time. She has an assertive personality which the job requires but remains humble and willing to learn.
I really can’t see our team functioning without her now and that’s a great testament to how well she’s performing in her role.
Here’s what was said about the other nominees:
Michael Dinh @ X4 Group:
From day one Michael has shown great determination in absorbing knowledge. Michael at times seeks out work and new challenges. Users and colleagues feed off his energy and enthusiastically discuss solutions and ideas. Not all have I been impressed with the way Michael goes about it, I continuously receive positive feedback from our user base. Michael has set himself some high standards and has been matching my expectations every step of the way. I look forward to finding out what more Michael can achieve in the next few months.
John O'Reilly @ Tempest Resourcing:
John has shown great enthusiasm in his role relating to new ideas and also his desire to progress. Since his first day, he has always wanted to take the next step and contribute more to the business by carrying out more complex job roles. He also takes part in the company incentives when the consultants hit certain sales targets and is always enthusiastic about the company’s general progress and also the teams.
Macie Throne @ Pension Services Corporation:
Since Macie started with us in September, she has performed perfectly in her role. Macie has been given the responsibility of producing the Monthly ExCo report for Internal Audit. A difficult task involves obtaining data from various sources including discussing with the team their individual position and confirming with the Head of Audit the detail that is to be included. Macie also attends to all of her tasks with a happy and smiling approach.
Iain Bhagwandin @ Wacoal:
Iain enjoys helping people get to grips with new technologies and improving their experience using existing ones. The users pick up on this and as a result they become more willing to try new things and change their way of working. That ultimately helps both them and ourselves with our day to day jobs.