Finance Accounting Apprentice Review

I am a finance accountancy apprentice. My day to day job differs everyday as i do not have set tasks every day. I run monthly reports after our month end which is always on the 7th day after the month has closed and post journals weekly for colleagues that i work with. I also help out with reports and documents that the audit team need when they come in to run their audits which take place over most of the year.

Yes i have learnt and developed skills since being at Pfizer. Skills i have learnt have been more to do with my qualification and the skills i use when completing accounting reports or journals. The skills i have developed are things like my communication and team work skills because i communicate with people all over the business and in different countries and i have developed my team work because there are always projects going on which mean we have to work in teams to get this done.

I really enjoy the programme. The company is a great company to work for especially with it having offices all over the world because it means i get to interact with all different types of people. My internal team are lovely and have welcomed me in straight away helping me with my studies and work life as it is very different coming straight from A-Levels.

I feel very valued at Pfizer. When i am completing or have completed a task people are always very nice at giving feedback and telling me the good things i have done. We also have an award system where if a colleague does something really good they can send it in and everyone in the team can see so that person gets recognition.

I believe it is very well structured. I work 5 days a week with one day being a study day. How this usually works is i am in the office Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays and then i take my study day on Wednesday from home because i live quite far from the office and then on Fridays most of the office works at home. It is nice to have structured working but also have the flexibility of having my study day from home because i live far.

When my courses are taking place i have a live lecture once a week which you can ask live questions to the tutor and then can respond. I also have an online forum where i can ask a question and the tutor or other students can respond with an answer. The only problem is that these are the only ways of communicating with the tutor you cannot as personal one to one questions which i do not like.

I receive a lot of support from my employer and my work colleagues. I have a meeting once a week with my manager where we go through all my tasks for work and my study to see if i need any help or guidance anywhere. If i do he sets up time for us to go through the tasks or the questions i am stuck on. I also have a monthly team meeting where we talk about what we have been doing that month and whether we need any help.

My salary is quite low because i am an apprentice however it is enough for me. I still live at home with my parents who don’t charge any rent so the only expenses i have are a few bills like my phone bill and my travel costs. This can be quite costly as i live quite far from the site however because i can usually work at home on a Wednesday and Friday this cuts the cost down to a more reasonable rate.

Yes there are loads of opportunities that the company offer. With just being here 7 months i have already had a volunteering day with my team and an overnight offsite in London where we had team meetings in the days and then went out in the evening. We are also planning our summer offsite which will be in June in Brighton. The company offers 5 paid volunteering days for each person so if you want to get involved in the community you can.

Yes

I would recommend Pfizer to a friend because it is a nice environment to work in with great role and work progression if you want it. There is not real hierarchy in the company so you can talk to anyone and ask them for things without being worried. They offer great experience and the people are all really friendly and welcoming.

I would first think about how far you are from the site and how you intend to travel there because it can be hard if you have not travelled far for a job before to start doing it five days a week. When you apply talk about yourself and your achievements and any experience you have because this shows the type of character you are. When you come in for your interview be yourself and think before you answer the interview questions so you show your best self-off.