Finance Apprentice Review

My role as a finance apprentice is to help out the finance department and my individual team to complete tasks both at moth end and just simple day to day tasks. On a day to day basis I am given tasks by all different members of my finance team. I also have my own work to do on specific days such as interface files, pre-payments and manual matching.

Although I have only been working at Sage for around seven months I have already learned lots of new skills as well as developing my already existing ones. One of the main skills I have developed is my communication, by having to work with new people in a new working environment Sage has given me the opportunity to develop my confidence drastically and intern improving my communication skills with all different types of people. This rages from my friends to professionals in the business world.

The programme on a whole is enjoyable and full of new and interesting opportunities. Most of these opportunities are from working at Sage rather than from college. With Sage there are lots of different volunteering opportunities which has made me feel as if I am part of something bigger than myself since joining this company.

My programme has a set structure of four days at college and one day at college, this is a nice structure as it allows me to get college out of the way on a Monday and have all week to work through my homework alongside my actual work at Sage. However, sometimes one day a week doesn't feel like it is enough to support my learning.

My employer on a whole gives me lots of support through things such as sage learning and LinkedIn learning. However, I receive the most support from my manager as well as supporting me with my physical work for Sage he also offers to help with my college work if I ever need extra support or a helping hand.

The training provider (Middlesbrough college) offer lots of resources when I am working towards one of my exams. This ranges from a tutorial text book to online mocks for the upcoming exams. I have also been given feedback and marked work to see where I went wrong. However, one issue with the supports is that my tutor works at more than one place during the week so she is not always able to reply to emails the same day.

The qualification on a whole doesn't make me perform better at work due to the college work being all theory based and Sages systems are all electronic. However, working on all the different topics at college does help me understand why I am using certain processes and why I am putting certain numbers into different accounts.

At work there are lots of different social events always going on. Personally I have and still am play football with other members of the finance team as well as with people from the whole of finance in Sage. As well as football there are also social events such as team meals and nights out to improve the moral and friendships within the teams

Yes

The reason in which I would recommend Sage to a friend is because of its friendly and welcoming staff. Whilst I have worked here not one person has been hostile or come across as not a nice person. Even if you get something wrong the staff will show you where you went wrong and how to correct it rather than just shouting at you.

With Sage there is no true was of guaranteeing yourself the job however, there are a few simple things you can do to increase your chances of getting it. One tip I would give is to go for the role you're most passionate about or can see yourself having a future in, think about after the apprenticeship and if you're going to be happy with it.