Chartered Business Management Degree Apprentice Review

The Visa degree apprenticeship scheme allows apprentices to rotate between roles every six months. This provides a fantastic range of experience to young professionals when finding their feet in the corporate world. As a result of this, there is a lot of variation in the sort of work apprentices engage with. Apprentices are encouraged to seek out new opportunities to stretch their development and build their network everyday.

Visa take a great level of pride in offering a range of development tools for staff to build new and existing skills. These topics are not limited to each role, and often surround career planning and managing well-being. Learning and development is always encouraged for staff of all levels at Visa, meaning managers are always happy to facilitate this within your work schedule.

I find the programme extremely rewarding. I have loved every role I have rotated into throughout my experience & I am confident that everyday I am able to enrich my knowledge whilst learning from industry experts. I feel valued by the company which makes the role feel much more than a 9-5, and enables me to push the limits of my development at all times.

The programme is very well structured, and provides a high level of clarity into what to expect as a Visa apprentice from day one. All of the managers apprentices have the opportunity to work with, are familiar with the scheme. This means that they enable high levels of growth during each six month rotation.

One of the things I love about the programme is the 'Buddy' system. From before your first day as an apprentice, you are connected with an apprentice from the cohort above you. Based on how often you want to interact, these buddies are able to provide guidance and insight on all things work and degree orientated. Visa's HR team are incredibly helpful and approachable.

The degree is facilitated by QA, who currently offer virtual lectures. These lectures are very collaborative and encourage discussion with apprentices from other organisations such as BBC, Microsoft and BT, which is helpful when offering new perspectives for writing assignments. Support does not end within workshops, as all apprentices are matched with a skills coach who guide you through the four year course.

Every module I have completed has aligned perfectly with the function I am working with at the time. This allows me to contextualise and apply my learning to my day to day tasks, but also provides me with real life examples to explore within assignments. Managers are usually very happy to help when understanding how assignment briefs apply to the team you are working within.

Visa provides an abundance of extra-curricular activities for employees of all levels to get involved with. I find almost every day I am in the office, I am encouraged to engage in networking and charitable events. This has allowed me to build a fantastic internal and external network, and also valuable friendships with other apprentices.

Yes

I feel the apprenticeship programme at Visa has been carefully considered to provide endless opportunities to their apprentices. I am yet to hear of a competing programme that offers such a well rounded and and supportive environment for young professionals to explore their skills and take ownership of their career.

I found the Visa application process took a few months, from initial application to final interview. Following the application, I was on-boarded over the summer before my first day in October. I feel applicants are well informed prior to each interview, in regards to what to expect and how the day will be structured. I would encourage applicants to be authentic and display their curiosity for payments and enthusiasm towards developing technology.