Finance/Business Apprentice Review

I am a financial analyst and analyse weekly data to assess my current projects' profitability and how it contributes to the overall performance of IBM. I report to a high level of management and have some client impact if they require more clarity of specific finance or commercial information. I try to get varied work complete throughout the week but this isn't always possible.

I have developed my technical skills throughout this role, I am proficient in VBA in Excel as well as my overall MS Project skills. I have taken on a professional development course of completing my chartered accountancy qualification with CIMA. I am now more confident too as when i joined i was quite shy but the more i've been here i've come out my shell quite a lot.

The work and team that I work in have an enabled me to have a very enjoyable experience. However, the company culture requires you to work 10 hours per day as standard otherwise your performance is rated low but with no additional reward for working the excess hours unless they are paid for by the client - ie 50 hours are worked but only 40 hours are billed.

I feel very undervalued, there is still a culture of graduates are better professionally than apprentices because they have a degree despite them having no experience. There is limited recognition from my immediate team as well as the wider IBM and externally, but this is what I have come to understand as the culture of IBM.

The programme is structured well but there is very little communication circulated about what is required and when, it almost seems like a checklist rather than completing a programme with a community feel. I will definitely give feedback to my apprenticeship supervisors to perhaps have more informal chats to the apprentices so they feel more valued.

Very little support - I have submitted my apprenticeship qualification to be graded over a year ago and have very little response or lead times as to when I can get my result. We do however have meetings every 4 months but at each meeting i'm always given an excuse as to why my qualifications have not been graded yet. I hope this improves greatly.

Support often takes a long time to get a hold of, with everyone seemingly very busy all of the time. There isn't much proactive support eg. discussions around your future career path and although some employees are interested in why you joined and what you previously did at school, the majority aren't too bothered and it's sometimes a difficult atmosphere to work in.

My salary is more than adequate to meet my daily costs, IBM is also an expenses driven organisation so a lot of my expenses during the week are covered which is great for me. I usually spend some money on board (to my parents) and some on my car too. I've heard about the possible salary when i complete my apprenticeship which seems reasonable too.

A lot of opportunities are based in London or Hursley with very few in the North. There is the yearly corporate games that IBM participated in by playing team sports against other companies. Apart from this we are ocasionally given information about local events in the community which is nice and some apprentices meet up for social events which im usually invited too.

No

There is a poor culture which can leave you feeling very undervalued and overworked. The support offered is few and far between, especially, like many young people, you are unsure of your career path. The salary is decent but on a whole i would like to see a lot of improvement with IBM before i would consider recommending it to someone i know who is looking for an apprenticeship.

Make sure you use examples in the application process to evidence what you're claiming. The assessment centre aims to get everyone involved so don't sit in silence even if people in your group are very dominant, make sure you make some good suggestions in the activities. Ensure you act calm and greet interviewers in a friendly way and speak highly of yourself without rubbing information in their faces.