Risk Apprentice Review

My role is to assist the Risk function in any way they need. Running sessions with other areas of the business to identify risks or working with other members of my team to respond to incidents as they come through, as well as any service now tickets that come through.

I have developed my communication through formal emails as well as gained a scope of general office working. Noticing how each of my colleagues thinks and tends to work has been an interesting endeavor. One person on my team may see a problem one way and another may see it totally differently which helps expand my skill set by picking up on those problem solving tendencies.

Most days there is something new to get my head stuck into. Being able to ask any of the people in my function for something to do gives me a massive scope to expand my skillset and gain something from doing a task. Simply having a go at something is better for me than never trying it at this point. And feedback is always constructive and useful.

To begin with there was some confusion as to which course i would be doing however this was quickly sorted and i am now in a place where is i need help with planning or structure i can ask, however i am mostly left to my own devices when i have work on and expected to get on with stuff.

Every member of my team thus far has expressed their commitment to helping me get as much out of this placement as possible which is a definite positive. From regular catch ups to see what tasks i have on, to support and guidance when it comes to exams or my workload from college.

Recently i had to resit an exam, and the support was immediately there for me to pass the second time around. With 1-1 sessions and freedom to use my time flexibly around studying and work was really useful and gave me that reassurance that its not the end of the world if i dont pass something first time.

Honestly, i see my qualification as a necessity for my apprenticeship. My role is quite far removed from the content of the course however i have made steps to make sure i still get that view, by having regular meetings with people in the accountancy space in the company to gain a scope of how the qualification translates to the real world.

Quite a few. Sage Foundation provides a wealth of activities for charity. Sage provides 5 days a year to go out into your community and do something for someone else or do fundraising for events. And even then there are semi-regular team events like runs, nights out and team days which help me feel like i'm actually one of the team.

Yes

While i cant speak for every area of the business, my job and my team is something i feel as though i lucked out on. I didnt know what to expect from this job, however i wouldn't ever change my decision to join up. While mistakes have been made, as every massive company does, it genuinely seems like the people at the top care about how their colleagues are doing. Plus, tuck shops on basically every floor which are cheaper than the canteen.

Be yourself. Don't put up a businessy front every day because it gets tired and old very fast. If you make a mistake, own it. Don't skirt around it just admit what you did, fix it, move on. Nobody really cares about the mistakes you make. They care about how you react afterwards. And if you're calm and headstrong then people will pick up on that. And try to get yourself known to as many people as possible. The more your name is used positively the better for your 'brand' as Sage calls it. And you never know when you might need someone from across the business.