Accounts Apprenticeship Review

My current role is undertaking daily jobs in the accounts department, such as processing and authorising refunds and looking at company bank statements. I have also learnt how to do a bank reconciliation, to ensure everything on the statements matches with what has come into the bank. In he future we will look to move onto bigger projects that will hopefully have a big impact on the whole company.

After 13 months, myself and the other 2 apprentices on course got moved from the Customer Experience Team, into the Head Office departments of Accounts and Audit. Therefore we have had a lot of opportunity to learn and develop new skills. One of the main skills learnt across both departments is communication and team work. Both of these skills are crucial in these departments and are things I didn't have much experience of before starting.

I enjoy my apprenticeship programme very much. On the course so far i have been quite fortunate to work in different areas of the business and get insight into different department's perspectives on situations. I have also had plenty of support from our early career mentors with regards to balancing university work and workplace roles.

As our programme is run by people who have previously done the apprenticeship scheme, meaning they know what works and what doesn't. We have regular meetings to ensure we are working well within our roles, and keeping on top of the university assignments. Because of this, the programme runs smoothly and is very well organised.

As the course I monitored by previous year's apprentices, we do receive full support from our employer as they understand how necessary this is. This means our team leaders and operations managers are fully on-board with the programme and are willing to offer time out of their day to support us where necassary.

We do receive good support from the university whilst we are on the study-schools, however once we are back at work it can sometimes be difficult to communication effectively. This sometimes comes down to things such as annual leave or slow reply times but it can cause problems when things are more urgent.

I feel the qualification provides us with knowledge on areas that can be applied back to work. Although some things can't be directly applied, knowledge of industries and subject matters that is a good base for us to build on when back at work.

The company pays for team nights out each quarter, where we will go out and do a team building activity in order to encourage building strong relationships. As well as this, there is group of people who play football together every week or so which again is a great opportunity to interact with work mates in a non-work environment.

Yes

I would recommend this company to a friend due to the way it looks after it's employees and customers. The benefits you receive whilst working here make you feel valued as an employee and makes you more motivated to do well. As well as this, the company does genuinely care about it's customers and wants what is best for them in all situations.

To be yourself. Having been on 2 assessment days I have seen people act in certain ways, and in hind-sight can see why these people were not successful. I would also say to ensure you communicate well with the others who apply, and be seen to get them involved, rather than taking charge.