Finance Apprentice Review

I work on the Centraliser Team within the Finance function. My daily tasks involve posting journals and posting reports for various members within Finance. I interact internally with my colleagues around me and through email with other members of the business. I only interact externally with the Office of National Statistics to provide monthly figures.

I have developed many skills during my time at Fujitsu. I have completed my CIMA Certificate Qualification and I am currently in the process of completing assignments for the Business Management Diploma part of the apprenticeship. I have also had the opportunity to take part in internal training courses which can be E-learning or Classroom based such as Excel Skills and Productivity.

I enjoy the work I complete in current role as I find it relatively challenging, so I like the problem solving side of it. I like the team I am working in as everyone is friendly and always happy to help me. I've liked the company culture as this is my first full time job so have enjoyed learning about the company.

I feel that my current manager appreciates me as she frequently praises me for my work and tells me how she thinks I will go far. I have also found that the colleagues I have done work for have recognised the hard work put into it and have praised me. I feel that in my current team I have the opportunity to get involved in projects and my opinion is valued.

The apprenticeship induction I had at the start of my apprenticeship was beneficial and informative as it was ran by other apprentices so it was good to hear an insight into their experiences. However I found the induction into my first role was insufficient as my manager was in experienced and didn't know who to put me with for training. I've found the structure has improved since being in the team I'm currently in as my manager has had previous experience of managing apprentices. The structure of the programme has seemed to improve for other apprentices.

BPP have provided me with an assessor and I have always found her polite and helpful. She manages to help solve most of my queries, if she can't she points me in the direction of who can help me. Recently BPP have changed the format of how they respond to queries. Although apprentices still have an assessor they now have a group mailbox, which means I often have a few different people dealing with one query. Also some of the assessors who are dealing with my query often provide cryptic answers. Both of these factors mean it is taking longer for me to complete my assignment.

My manager is also my mentor, I receive lots of support from her as she is always happy to help with any problems, regardless of whether they are to do with work, my studies or matters outside of work. She also lets me know of my progress and areas for improvements and allows me to raise any questions in fortnightly one-to-ones which I find beneficial.

The salary I am currently on is much higher than those I have seen for other similar apprentices. As I still live with my parents I find I can live a good lifestyle off that salary as it covers my rent, running my car, any daily costs and I have some money spare for disposable income. If I didn't live at home I'm not sure it would meet these costs.

Within Fujitsu there are lots of company events to take part in such as town hall meetings, parties, team lunches and CSR events. As Fujitsu has the charity partner of Macmillan there are many volunteering initiatives to get involved in or you can come up with your own if oyu have any ideas.

Yes

I have had a good experience with the company so far and have been well looked after. There is also a variety of areas to get into so there will be something to suit their interests. Furthermore there is lots of training available if they wanted to expand their knowledge and career.

I found it much easier applying for the role through an external website rather than directly. Prior to the interview make sure that you have thoroughly researched the company and the job role you are going for so that the interviewer knows you are serious about the role. Make sure you have 5 questions to ask the interviewer to show an active interest in the role.