Chartered Management Degree Apprentice Review

My role involves onboarding and managing the dealerships who provide vehicles to our finance customers. This involves regulatory checks to ensure the dealerships are compliant with the Financial Conduct Authority Guidelines as well as a judgement call as to whether the dealerships are fit for purpose to fulfill the needs of our customers. This also involves regular communication with the dealerships via the phone.

Communication: Regular communication working in a team and with our dealership partners. Compliance skills: Have to ensure our dealer partners are compliant with the Financial Conduct Authority. Data skills: I also play a big part in managing the performance measures for my internal team, meaning I ensure that key performance indicators are understood and actions are taken off the back of this.

I really enjoy the program. Being able to incorporate learning from University directly into the workplace is a fantastic way to learn. Also, I am able to direct my career from a young age which will hopefully allow me to get ahead of my peers by engaging in real world business.

Very well. There is never any issues with getting time away from work to attend University and there are fantastic support networks for all aspects of the course. The only thing I would change about the structure, is the ability to rotate in different departments, as I feel this would give me more exposure to the wider business and allow me to gage more of of an understanding of my long-term career plans.

Support from our employer is as follows: - Team Leader: Manages your progress in work - University Mentor: Supports progress at University and works closely with my team leader - Other apprentices: Support one another in all aspects. - Wider business: The organisation itself is very supportive with developing employees, which makes it easy to gain exposure and learning.

Support we receive from our training provider is certainly sufficient. The in class time at University is very engaging and we receive very practical assignment tasks which can be applied in the workplace. An area which could be better for this, is the support from our training provider in regards to the EPA, as currently there are quarterly reviews for this which add little value and there is a lack of understanding of our End Point Assessor (CMI)

The training certainly helps with building a wider theoretical perspective of a particular function in the organisation e.g. the sales department. It also allows us to challenge what our organisation currently do, and how certain processes/management strategies could be changed.

Yes, I am currently part of the YAAN (Young Apprentice Ambassador Network) which allows me to network with other companies through being an apprentice. There is also a large general emphasis on wellbeing and socializing, and is therefore events within the workplace such as 5 aside football and regular team development sessions.

Yes

It is a great place to work. There is a very distinctive culture which places people at the heart of what they do, meaning staff are treated extremely well and their views are listened to. I think this is also a great opportunity to build and prosper your career by being part of achieving great service for customers and dealers.

- Be yourself: The company onboarding process will be able to decide whether you are right for the job. - Be willing to learn: FRF are a big believer in self-learning and self-development. Therefore, you need to be able to put yourself out of your comfort zone in order to learn new things. - Try and go above and beyond: It is very easy to blend in with the standard employee who does their day to day job well. Therefore, you need to be willing to do that little bit extra in order to stand out.