Finance and Commercial Academy Student Review

The scheme moves through a mix of 6 month to 1 year placements over the space of 3 years. I have so far had experience in a wide variety of business areas including Credit Control, Procurement, and Compliance. Daily tasks can include anything from preparing reports, using SAP, working with Excel Databases and interacting with customers.

I have vastly improved upon my Excel skills, Siemens has provided multiple training courses ranging from Beginner to Macro Skills. I have also developed confidence in giving presentations and leading meetings. Other programs I have developed skills within include SAP.

I really enjoy my program as it provides the opportunity to interact and socialise with the other students in my year group across the country, as well as the years above and below. I feel that this creates a great team atmosphere and a solid base to rely on even when moving through different and new areas of the company.

I feel that different placement businesses value students on different levels, I have worked in areas where I feel like a vital component to the team but I have also worked in areas where I have less responsibilities.

The program has moved through a lot of changes over the past couple of years, this may not affect new students however for myself it has caused a lot of disruption and changes to my work/study policy.

BPP are very supportive and are available far past working hours via email or phone support with CIMA or Apprenticeship work. The tutors are very helpful and understanding.

Support is generally more informal with my employer, I can call my program manager if I have an issue but generally I am left to be quite independent. Academy meet-ups occur every 6 months and students from all years get the chance to attend training courses together and give feedback on their experience with the program.

Upon starting the program I was on a salary of 15K, however due to changes in the program the starting salary is now 17K. I feel like this is a very reasonable package that would more than adequately meet the needs of an independent student.

The office location I currently work for has strong ties with the local community and there are many opportunities to get involved with projects at local schools, museums and community centres. As there are many other students, graduates and interns there is a really active social life outside of the office, with many evening events being organised.

Yes

Siemens is a great company to work for as they are so diverse and offer so many business areas for an apprentice to experience working for. They put a great level of importance on recruiting and retaining young talent into the business and hence this means that there will always be a focus on training and improving your skills. Additionally, Siemens strives to be an ethical company and I believe this is becoming increasingly important to employees.

The Siemens values are 'Responsible, Innovative and Excellent' and hence it is good to be able to provide examples of how you fit in line with these values or how you think the company does. They put a great amount of importance on Science and future technologies and so an interest in these subjects would make for a good candidate.