Apprentice Economist Review

I am an economist analyst so my day to day work involves modelling work on excel and doing work to support cost benefit analysis and impact assessments. I work alongside different professions such as policy and operational researchers.

Yes I have learnt numerous skills around communication and presenting and have developed my Microsoft excel skills. It is always encouraged to develop skills that I want to focus on and there is always training opportunities available both internally and externally.

I enjoy the programme a lot there is always support on hand from both the university and the employer to make sure the apprenticeship is always running smoothly and to provide me with any extra help when needed.

The programme is structured quite well, we are sent our university timetables and our exam dates in advance so we can plan for them. The employer is good at working around our exam dates by offering extra study days on top of the 20% study time we automatically recieve.

I receive a lot of support from my employer both on a day to day basis answering any questions I have for tasks and on a longer term basis with touch points where we can discuss how to best improve any skills/behaviours that I want to focus on.

A lot of support, there is lecture materials posted online each week alongside an interactive webinar to go through exercises or any questions, there is also weekly drop in sessions with the lecturers overseeing the course and our module conveners to discuss any concerns or questions I have.

There are some opportunities to use theoretical skills we have learnt from the university course into action in my day to day role but in general this is quite limited. Other skills such as concise writing skills have made me perform much better in my role.

There are numerous groups to join such as the GES that puts on talks and networking events. There are numerous sports teams to join through the Civil service sports clubs and in general there is a good social network amongst the economists, organising monthly socials.

Yes

There is a good culture at the Ministry of Justice alongside a good network of different professions to learn from and interesting and varied work where you can see the real world impacts of the work you are doing.

If possible try and link any previous examples you have both from work or school to economics.