Analyst Review

I work within the Executive Compensation team in the Reward department. We provide advice to the Remuneration Committees (mostly from FTSE 350 companies) on paying their executives. This can involve attending remuneration committee meetings, benchmarking, providing market updates, providing advice on how to comply with the corporate governance code etc.

We had a 2 week residential induction where we were taught the basics of tax, regulation and soft skills including presentation skills, debating, writing emails etc. From my ACA exams and college I have learnt the basics of tax and accounting. In the office I have learnt a lot about being professional and how to present yourself to a client as well as admin skills such as billing and note taking.

I enjoy that in my programme the whole team in the office is supportive and encourage you to ask questions. Even people who are much more senior will always make time to help us learn and progress. There is also structured support for us, for example we have an 'Analyst Pathway' and a buddy system.

Within the office, the programme is well structured, the buddy system means there's always someone to help us learn. We also have a shadowing system where we get to shadow someone more senior so that we can get exposure to different types of work. The analyst pathway has a list of things we have to do to progress which adds structure to the programme. The exams and college haven't been well structured so far.

We have received lots of help from Deloitte, they've put a lot of time into training sessions for us, in the office as well as on the 2 week residential. They have also allowed us plenty of time off for our exams and to go to college where necessary.

For me personally, the training provider hasn't been great so far. My exam materials are never available without me chasing them before each exam, despite my colleagues all having access to theirs weeks before. When we went into college, the teacher wasn't great. They also didn't approve my apprentice oystercard (despite having a conversation with them whilst in college and being told that it would be fine) leading to it being blocked - it cost me £20 for the card and had money left on it too. They do have a good selection of biscuits and drinks though.

I don't feel that my qualification has been particularly relevant to my role so far, it's more just been something extra to add to my CV. I think that as I progress through the qualification and learn more in my role, it may come in more useful as background knowledge for my job. There are people who don't do this qualification and still do the same job without any issues.

Yeah there's lots of networks for inclusion, for example the Muslim network, Christian network, LGBT network, disability network. There's also some basic sports teams, e.g. 5 a side men's football, a group that running on Wednesdays etc. There's also thirsty thursday's, a social event with free drinks on the last Thursday of every month as well as other various team socials.

Yes

They put a lot of time into training you, with residential and in house training. There's also lots of optional training you can book onto. The ACA qualification that we are doing is also a good thing to have on your CV. There's good development opportunities and Deloitte is a good name to have on your CV.

The application process: Do practice online tests before attempting the real one and definitely do practice video interviews too because they're quite unnatural. At the assessment day: Be approachable, make an effort to remember other candidates names. At interviews: Have extracurricular activities to talk about, make yourself interesting, don't just talk about that time you did DofE (the majority of candidates will have done this too).