Finance Apprentice Review

My role involves providing finance / debt to large corporate customers (e.g. private equity firms) secured against commercial real estate (think large scale real estate such as offices, apartment blocks, hotels etc.). The debt can be structured in variety of different ways, such as 'loan on loan', repos and straight senior / mezzanine debt. In some cases we also arrange the sell down of this debt in the secondary market via a syndication process. Essentially my role involves anything to do with debt secured against or related to commercial real estate. My day to day job involves a lot of research; research on the sector as a whole to identify trends in the market, research on specific assets that we are considering providing finance against, and research in the form of due diligence relating to specific deals. I also prepare and contribute towards credit papers / triage papers and other documents that are required to complete a deal. A significant amount of my day is spent on calls or in meetings with clients and investors. My role in these meetings is mainly passive whilst I learn more about the sector but it is an invaluable learning experience which exposes me lots of different views and approaches to the sector.

Through completing my day-to-day work and speak to more senior colleagues I have learnt a significant amount about finance generally and more specifically, commercial real estate. This knowledge base has been consolidated by exams and other training session which have provided me with the basic building blocks to properly understand my job. I have also developed a number of softer skills; regular exposure to important clients and investors has improved my confidence and ability to interact with a wide range of different people. Working on presentations / documents and excel has improved my IT skills immeasurably.

I really enjoy my work; it is engaging, challenging and constantly evolving - each deal is markedly different from the last which keeps me on my toes. I am also given a lot of responsibility which is great for my personal development but can sometimes be stressful and involve long hours and hard work (not necessarily a bad thing!)

I am at the start of my current programme so it is hard to answer this decisively. We have been given a very high level / broad overview of what our apprenticeship will involve and what will be expected of us - however the detail will come in due course when we get into the full swing of things. Having said this, it appears as though there is a clearly laid a path for us to follow, involving both coursework and exams with pre-defined standards.

My employer as a whole (the company) is supportive of the apprenticeship programme and has recently been putting in a lot of effort into championing the apprenticeship programme and other early career initiatives. There representatives from the business and from HR specifically aligned to the apprenticeship programme whom we can reach out to with concerns / questions and they are fully supportive of our 20% a week studying. The only caveat is that the programme is relatively new and so inevitably there are the usual teething problems.

Again, this is hard to answer as I have only recently enrolled on the programme and so the focus has mainly been on getting up to speed on my day to day role, the apprenticeship studying is due to properly start in the coming weeks. Having said this, through the onoarding process my training provider has been reasonably supportive, although it can sometimes take a couple of days to get a response via email.

My qualification builds towards taking my CFA exam which will be give me a very thorough grounding in finance in general - essential for understanding some of the nuances in my job. Moreover the qualification will be recognised across the industry and will help to prove a minimum level of confidence. Whilst the final exam will be very useful, I imagine some of the coursework will be more of a 'tickbox' exercise.

My employer hosts a number of informal events, such as summer and Christmas parties as well as more formal associations such as that analyst and associate organisation which aims to coordinate social and professional events for analysts and associates. Outside of that there are a number of sporting leagues (e.g. netball and football) which are organised and run informally by colleagues.

Yes

It is a friendly and supportive environment where it is recognised that apprentices are at the very start of their career and so will inevitably have learning curve to tackle. Whilst apprentices are supported and given time to acquire the necessary skills and understanding, there are also many opportunists to take on more work or responsibly where you feel confident and able - being an apprentice does not limit the type of work you can do, it just means you have access to more support whilst doing it.

The most important thing is to appear interested and ready to learn. You are not expected to have any prior knowledge (other than what is easily accessible online) and therefore your attitude and approach to work is the most important thing. Ask questions, and where you don't understand ask for clarification - being engaging is key!