360 Apprentice Review

Being a 360 apprentice means just that - you get a holistic view of the workings of the firm, and experience various experiences across different industries, clients, internal service functions etc. It's a super opportunity to understand the goings on and activity in the business world across audit, tax and other functions.

I have reinforced the skills in my skillset further, and developed these from a decent standard to a professional level, for example business writing, reviewing documents, and importantly curiosity and analysis as these are key pillars of your work in whichever business function you are working on at the time

I enjoyed the experience in particular the chance to rotate and understand different functions. Even if you don;t enjoy a placement that much you learn a lot and make new networks across the business, which is a unique opportunity and as such it seems the 360 apprentices have a broad knowledge and contacts from across the firm.

The programme is well structured which is important as there are complexities in the way the programme operates. You are aware when you come in that you will need to be flexible in terms of the areas you are working in, also geographically since there's a lot of travel, but these expectations are set.

The support from the firm was very good. You are given a lot of guidance and support which is important as joining such a global multinational and successful firm, it can feel intimidating and you can worry about how you'll fit in, get on with the work etc. But overall I felt at ease from the moment I started.

You get good tuition and support, with mock exams and lots of opportunity to ask questions and delve deeper into the subject matter. The teachers are subject experts and there isn;t a question they don;t know the answer to, it seemed. It's up to you to use this and learn ready for the exams.

I took away direct learning into my work. It is important to note the work of audit and tax for example is varies, especially tax with so many international laws, and so many branches of tax eg. personal, corproate, inheritance, capital gains etc. It's complex and the training helps share detail ready for real world application in the day to day client work.

There is opportunity to join one of the firms many sports teams, and employee networks. There are dozens of these so there is ample opportunity to get involved if your time allows, however I didn;t see any extra curricular areas that connected with me so this is an area I am not so familiar about.

Yes

It's a huge firm, there are loads of opportunities to craft your career how you want to. For example I met staff who were going on secondmant to offices overseas, or taking a career break, or switching business function (after qualifying only) so there is great opportunity to move your career in the direction you want to go.

It's a big firm but don't feel intimidated to apply, as if you start you will get the guidance you need to feel welcome. It is also great to meet so many new colleagues and you gain a big network of friends, similar I would think to university so you don;t really feel disadvantaged from a social side of things, which was a worry before joining.