Assistant senior Review

My current job title is Assistant Senior, therefore i am treated as a fully qualified 'Senior' whilst also trying to juggle exams and being paid significantly less than a graduate who has two years less experience than myself. On a day to day role i lead audits, which entails liaising with the client, managing the team and taking questions from my juniors. More recently we have had a dire strain on our resources which has limited my progression and has meant i have had to take on additional work.

I'm training to be a chartered accountant which is a qualification I've not been through before. Internet training occurs every year, which is well structured however now being a senior work still gets in the way of this process which can limit you're involvement in the training. I've gained a lot of people skills, having to work with new people everyday.

I would never recommend this scheme, the work is long, tiresome and boring. The teams are overstretched so coaching is limited, the culture is appalling, with an expectation of having no work life balance. You also spend 2-3 hours a day on average travelling to client sites on top of a long day. This did not meet my expectations at all.

Do not feel valued at all, no recognition scheme, often expected to work and deliver over and above what was expected of the job often at no appreciation of the manager. There is little internal recognition unless you burn yourself out to strive for a better bonus which could be £200.

Structure is reasonably good, as it's a large firm has a set process, however being a school leaver we get worse treatment than grads, for instance have to do more exams self taught whereas all the graduates exams are taught in a lesson. Being school leavers i would've expected this to be the other way round due to the limited experience in self learning that you would gain at uni. Also whilst in college i have to book time off as vacation otherwise i would not have enough time to revise due to the long working hours. Which then means i have no time off for the rest of the year.

The tutors are a mixed bag, some are very good some are poor. They have also introduced a lot of home study which has limited my learning being dyslexic being in a classroom is a preferred method of learning. I do enjoy college as it's a break from work which is a benefit, also the content is quite interesting depending on the subject.

Support is very limited, we are assigned a buddy and counsellor whilst you will probably speak to your buddy once (if you're lucky) then counsellor will talk to you 4 times a year, however they may have no idea of where you are with exams or when you have any coming up. The general attitude is any problems were faced by them and therefore you should 'get on with it'. As noted above you also have to take holiday around exams in order to have time to pass them.

Meets my costs as my girlfriend lives with me otherwise it would be a challenge. We are paid significantly less than a graduate however expected to do more in the role. The location of the office is good, however spend maybe 25% of my time there being at the client site, however no consideration is taken in to account the time to commute to these locations.

2 company events a year (Christmas and summer party) the company does informal events such as Friday drinks. To access any other opportunities would be challenging as this would add additional time on to an already long day. As we are not based in the office a lot there are no opportunities for events/classes.

No

Reasons above - long hours, long commute, poor culture.

Research the company properly, make sure you know what you are applying for.