Finance Higher Apprentice Review

The role you partake in depends on the department and rotation you are in. General day to day work would be looking at numbers/spreadsheets and providing analysis which is then fed into something else and so on. You are also likely to take part in a lot of meetings which allow you to show your professionalism and improve your communication skills in the work place.

I have learnt and developed a number of skills since I started here as I came straight from sixth form and was quite shy as I had never worked in an office environment before. I am a lot more confident in myself as well as in terms of communication. I know this because I am comfortable going to people's desks where as when I started I always sent queries over email. My presentation skills have also improved and I am now able to comfortably partake in public speaking. Finally, my level of professionalism has shot up and I am now able to sit in a meeting and discuss points with senior staff without feeling intimidated.

I enjoy my programme a lot as it is so diverse and it is never the same repetitive work. We rotate every 12 months which keeps it exciting and also keeps me on my toes as we are thrown in the deep end each time. I think this has allowed me to discover many areas of the bank I did not know existed when I started. This has kept the programme highly enjoyable.

We have a very clear structure in our programme. If I have any issues/questions I know exactly who to go to for what type of question. We also have a lot of structured activities i.e.: we have finance apprenticeship learning and development meetings 3 times a month on a Thursday. It is very well organised and has allowed us to do a range of activities such as citizenship work together as we do not see each other on a day to day basis due to being in different roles. We have a very clearly set out working group which run the scheme and the support we get is immense.

We receive a lot of support no matter what the situation/issue is. We have dedicated members of the working group which are designated to a certain part of the scheme. i.e.: we have someone in charge of the exams side and they liase with our education provider to ensure we can easily book exams and that our college dates are sorted. We also have a designated "buddy" which is like a mentor who we have regular catch up's with and voice any concerns at all. We have people in all different parts of the bank that also work on the working group to ensure we are getting all the support we need.

We get different teachers for each part of the course that we are doing. The support we receive is very high quality as we are able to email them any questions we may have even after the course is over. They also provide us with a lot of online material in the form of question practice, exam style questions and online lectures in case you ever need to go back and revisit something that was explained in college. This is good for me as I do not like asking questions in a class room so it allows me to fully understand without feeling uncomfortable.

As I am in finance, a lot of the work we do in college is brought up in my work environment. Understanding certain descriptions or the basics around something helps me a lot in work. A lot of our soft skills that we improve via college i.e.: exam practice/revision helps me learn the mechanics of a new role when I first join also. There are a lot of direct links to finance from accounting so it helps me a lot.

We are encouraged to take part in any extra-curricular activities and are encouraged to do at least 2 citizenship/charity events per year/rotation. I do 2-3 of these events per year and are usually going toschools and helping young children realise the importance of exams/working when they're older. I have also done some manual labour helping out at a forest park to cut down greenery as it gets over grown in the winter. I have done a lot of work with the mental health/disability network and attend frequent calls on what work we can do to raise awareness in the work place. This is something very close to my heart so I am very passionate in taking part in anything that is suggested/brought forward on these calls.

Yes

I would recommend Barclays to a friend as it is good to get your foot in the door in such a large multi-national organisation. As it is so big, we have a broad range of departments which allows you to get huge amounts of knowledge from across various different areas. Having knowledge in numerous areas is key to progressing in a bank as big as Barclays therefore it puts you in good stead for later life. You also get the opportunity to do AAT and then ACA/ACCA/CIMA which is an opportunity that is hard to get hold of now as apprenticeships are getting so popular. I would definitely recommend trying to get into a large organisation.

Be yourself. Do not worry about exam grades as Barclays looks for people with good work ethic, if you are determined to do well in your career and are dedicated to putting in the hours of work as well as study then this is a good apprenticeship for you. Just show them the range of skills you have gained throughout sixth form and don't worry - it is not as scary as you think.