LEAP with Wickes and Travis Perkins plc
Our “Learn and Earn” Apprenticeship Programmes (LEAP) will allow you to realise your full potential.
This is your opportunity to embark upon a rewarding career within a group that has 20+ industry leading businesses to its name. Whatever your passion, we have the training tools and expertise to develop your required skill set.
Apprenticeships aren’t just for entry level roles or for trade based careers. As a group, we are planning to roll out apprenticeships up to senior leadership level and across a range of functions including Management, Warehousing, HR and Finance. These challenging opportunities will allow you to fast track your career whilst you work up to a Master's Degree Level 7 Apprenticeship Qualification in your relative field.
Whichever apprenticeship within the Travis Perkins Group you choose, you'll need to be motivated, ambitious and up for working in a fast-paced and diverse environment. We'll give you plenty of support but you'll also need the desire to take ownership for your own development.
All of our programmes give you the opportunity to driver performance across your business area and deliver projects that will positively impact what we do. Our supportive 'family feel' encourages you to challenge the way we do things, take risks and learn what works for you.
Discover the different apprenticeships programmes we offer below:
Salary - £14,000 - 16,000
Duration - 12 months
Qualification - Level 2 Apprenticeship as a Trade Supplier/Level 2 Apprenticeship in Retail
Programme Start Dates - 4 starts each year; January, April, July and October
Area of the business - Branches/Stores/Sales Office
What is your role?
Serving our customers either on the phone or from the trade counter, you will ensure that the customer is fully satisfied with the products they receive. By asking the right questions, you will ensure the customer has the right products for their requirements. You will be able to follow company procedures with regards to completing paperwork for our account customers and handling cash sales for our non account customers. You will also be responsible for merchandising our shop area and maintaining our excellent standards.
The Programme
Months 1-3 Build knowledge about the different areas of your branch or store including the products we offer to our customers, how we keep our colleagues safe and the systems we use to assist us in our day to day duties. Your colleagues and manager will be on hand to answer all of your questions so make the most of their expertise.
Months 3-9 Time to put that knowledge into practice and try it out! You’ve built an understanding of our customer base, now it’s time to put your customer service skills into practice with the aim of increasing our sales by building great customer relationships. You’ll understand where your business sits within the market and be able to use this knowledge to drive further sales opportunities with your customers.
Months 9-12 Here’s where you start drawing on all of your learnings and adding real value to your branch. We’ll give you projects to deliver that may see you looking at the way our branches are laid out, and moving the position of certain items to try and increase sales. It’s your opportunity to try new things and understand which direction you see your future career heading in.
Benefits
This programme is a fantastic introduction to our business. The understanding of our products and customer base will help you build a strong foundation to grow your future career within our business.
Salary - £18,000 - 20,000
Duration - 12 months
Qualification - Level 3 Apprenticeship in Management with the option to complete a diploma with the Chartered Management Institute
Experience required - 2-3 years in a Customer Facing role
Programme Start Dates - 4 starts each year; January, April, July and October
Area of the business - Branches/Stores/Distribution Centres
What is your role?
Joining our family an Assistant Manager, you’ll learn how to lead and motivate a team. Our Managers have plenty of freedom to shape the success of their business areas, and you’ll be involved in everything from setting the future strategy to team performance and building rock‐solid relationships with people of all levels across our business. Day to day, you’ll encourage superb performance and make sure our customers remain at the heart of everything we do.
The Programme
Months 1 -3 Build knowledge about what it’s like to be a manager in our business. We’ll get you familiar with the systems you’ll need to use to be effective in your role and introduce you to our leadership model - a core set of behaviours and values that we see in our most successful leaders across the business.
Months 3-9 Time to put that knowledge into practice and try it out! You’ll become a part of the Management team and learn how to make your branch or store a success. This will require you to understand the profit and loss reports and how to use that information to make good decisions. You’ll also get to grips with how to recruit, manage and develop an effective team and begin to recognise where your own strengths are to maximize your impact.
Months 9-12 Here’s where you start adding real value to you branch and directly influence positive results. Using your practical knowledge, gained over the last 9 months, you’ll deliver projects within your branch that will positively impact either bottom line profit, employee engagement or the safety culture. This is your opportunity to make your mark and get noticed for future development opportunities.
Benefits
This is the perfect development opportunity to take your first steps into a Management position. With the support of your Manager, your colleagues and your Apprentice Mentor, the MAT programme provides a really safe environment for you to find your feet as a leader and develop your natural leadership style. Our Apprenticeship programmes are really well regarded across the business so successful completion of this programme will set a great foundation for future development within our business.
Salary - TBC
Duration - 12 months
Qualification - Level 2 Apprenticeship in Warehousing
Programme Start Dates - 2 starts per year; January and July
Area of the business - Distribution Centres and Range Centres
What is your role?
As a Warehouse Operative you will be responsible for a range of warehouse duties, working within company security and health & safety guidelines, to ensure the effective and safe operation of the facility. These duties will include goods in, check in, replenishment, picking, packing, loading, participation in stock takes and housekeeping all whilst utilising appropriate documentation and equipment. The use of Mechanical Handling Equipment (and some manual lifting) will be involved and as such you will need the ability to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism towards safety.
The Programme
Months 1-3 Build your knowledge about our Warehouse operation, how we keep our colleagues safe and how we process stock through to site to ensure we’re as productive as we can possibly be.
Months 3-9 Time to put that knowledge into practice and try it out! You’ll start operating our Mechanised Handling Equipment, load and unload goods across the site and you’ll be using stock control systems to maximise the availability of products for our branch network. This is your chance to also develop effective communication skills and network with the wider business.
Months 9-12 Here’s where you start adding real value within your role and directly influence positive results. Your previous 9 months will have allowed you to build a great knowledge of the wider supply chain operation and develop a continuous improvement outlook. In these last 3 months of your programme, you’ll make use of these learnings to find new ways of working to further boost productivity.
Benefits
If you’re interested in a career in Logistics and Warehousing, this programme will help you build the essential knowledge you need to further your career. The Programme will give you exposure to the wider supply chain processes within Travis Perkins so can really help you to shape your future career.
Salary - Competitive + Excellent Benefits
Duration - 18 months
Qualification - Level 5 Apprenticeship in Management with the option to complete a diploma with the Chartered Management Institute
Experience required - 2-3 years experience in Supervisor/Team Leader level position
Programme Start Dates - Two start dates per year: June and December
Area of the business - Branches/Stores/Distribution Centres
What is your role?
As a Manager within our business, you will personify our business culture and help drive your business area forward. Through leading by example, setting the right tone and pace of work, you will be able to effectively motivate and engage your team. You will believe in high levels of productivity and efficiency and understand how to seek continuous improvement. Whichever area of our business you take responsibility for, you’ll be passionate about developing people, managing change impact and identifying opportunities to futureproof your business area.
The Programme
Months 1-6 Build your knowledge of our Group of brands and key competitors so you can start thinking about how to develop the sales activity of your branch or store to take market share. You’ll learn to manage a profit and loss sheet to continually impact profitability and you’ll get to grips with how to create and develop a high performing team that works for our customers.
Months 6-12 This is where you start putting your knowledge into practice and trying it out. You’ll develop your leadership style further to drive engagement across your team, set effective objectives and ensure your branch or store exceeds its targets. You’ll get to grips with our available systems and start using data to support action and evaluate the impact. You’ll also develop your own business plan for your branch or store that forecasts and supports market growth.
Months 12-18 Here’s where we’re looking for you to start adding real value within your role and positively impact the operation. Using your knowledge over the last 9 months, we’ll be looking for you to set a project for yourself and manage it through to success, measuring its impact on your branch or stores performance. You’ll have built a great knowledge of our business and will be in a position to start influencing others and creating compelling visions that set out the need for change.
Over the next 18 months, we plan to launch Level 6 and Level 7 Apprenticeships in Management. For those of you more interested in a career in Supply Chain, Finance, IT or HR, keep an eye on our website for future Apprentice opportunities within on of our vital support functions.
Read how some of our colleagues have already taken the 'LEAP'
"I have found it to be a great experience, the first workshop I attended was fantastic and my facilitator was really friendly and informative, he made the session fun and I really feel as though I took a lot back with me."
“The most important skill I've learned is how to manage people, both customers and staff. My biggest achievement has been getting some of my colleagues to change how they work – no easy task when they've been doing their jobs for years! ”
Your questions answered...
Absolutely anyone can be an Apprentice. There is no restriction on age, education or background. The only requirement is that the Apprenticeship Programme will allow you to build a new skill set.
Your Line Manager is on hand on a daily basis to coach and support you with any challenges you face, as well as giving you the opportunity to put your skills into practice. You will also be assigned an Apprentice Mentor who will visit you once every 3 months as a minimum.
Your mentor will assess your work and make sure you’re on the right track. They are also at the end of the phone if you need any additional support outside of those visits. Our wider Apprenticeship team are also on hand. Our Facilitators will deliver the workshop element of your programme and we have an admin team who can support any challenges you are having on a day to day basis.Your Line Manager is on hand on a daily basis to coach and support you with any challenges you face, as well as giving you the opportunity to put your skills into practice. You will also be assigned an Apprentice Mentor who will visit you once every 3 months as a minimum. Your mentor will assess your work and make sure you’re on the right track. They are also at the end of the phone if you need any additional support outside of those visits.
Our wider Apprenticeship team are also on hand. Our Facilitators will deliver the workshop element of your programme and we have an admin team who can support any challenges you are having on a day to day basis.
Throughout your programme you will be pulling together a portfolio of evidence that shows all the things you’ve learnt whilst on your Apprenticeship Programme. At the very end of your programme, an external provider will come into your place of work, have a conversation with you about your Programme and look through your portfolio.
Absolutely. All of our Apprenticeship programmes offer nationally recognised qualifications where you will be awarded either a pass, merit or distinction grade. Our Management Programmes even come with extra option to study towards a diploma with the Chartered Management Institute. This reflects the quality of the training you will receive throughout your apprenticeship.
Within the Travis Perkins Group, we do all of our recruitment online. See below for a list of our current apprentice vacancies and click on the links to submit your application.
Once you’ve submitted your application, one of our team will be in touch within four weeks to let you know whether you will be progressed to the next stage. Depending on the Apprenticeship Programme you’ve applied for, the next stage can vary.
You will be invited either to a telephone interview, or into branch for a face to face interview. Following this, there will be a second stage interview where you are likely to meet some additional members of the branch team, and have a full tour of the site. One of the team will be in touch shortly after this to let you know whether or not you have been successful.
Friendly people and lots of questions! We’ll want to know all about your background and whether your skills match the role you are applying for. Of course, interviews work two ways so come prepared to ask any questions you may have about the scheme and the Travis Perkins group. For more advice on interviews, have a look at our Top Tips
All of our Apprentices are brought into the business on a permanent contract. At the end of your programme, your progress will be reviewed and you will be moved into a position that suits your current skill set and provides you with an environment that will continue to challenge and develop you.
Our courses will cost you nothing but applying time and effort to your own development, all costs are covered by the Travis Perkins Group, including any travel and accommodation costs that might be necessary.