Finance Apprentice - Accounts Receivable Review

My role involves building relationships with both internal and external customers in order to ensure balances due are collected. I will use both email and telephone to contact customers requesting payment dates and remittances. I also work with both customers and other internal departments to resolve any issues such as payment or quantity disputes.

My confidence speaking with others in a professional manner has significantly increased throughout my time in the role. I have also learned a lot of technical skills relating to accounts receivable as this is a role that i did not previously have experience in. We also use excel on a daily basis so my skill using this program have developed a lot.

I really enjoy the program that i'm on, the lessons I take as part of my level 3 CICM qualification have increased my understanding of why the tasks i complete on a daily basis at work are significant to the business. I have learned skills such as active listening and mirroring which I have then put into practice at work.

I feel that my program is very well structured. The meeting invites for my lessons and 1:1s are sent in advance meaning i can plan my work and life around these. The 20% off the job hours are well spread throughout the week (2 afternoons per week) so that i don't fall behind on work. Tutors are very responsive and helpful.

I receive a lot of support from my employer. They always make the effort to join my review meetings and provide feedback to support my improvement. If there are aspects of the course that i'm struggling with or don't have first have experience they will try their best to arrange for my to speak to someone in the relevant department or have training on the area.

My tutor at Kaplan is always very responsive to messages i send and answers questions i have. We have regular check ins to ensure i'm on track with the work i need to complete. They also help me prepare for professional discussions by supporting with practice questions. They also provide me useful feedback when submitting reflections to ensure i'm providing the correct information for each category.

Yes, there are many aspects of my qualification which relate to the role i'm in. For example we have focused a lot on ways to communicate with customers and i believe that implementing these has allowed me to build better relationships with customers and therefore gain better results. I also now better understand the reason for completing the tasks that i do which has increased my motivation to perform well in my role. Although there are aspects of the course which don't directly relate to my specific role, i do believe that the increased understanding helps me when speaking to members of other departments in the business.

At my company we have an apprenticeship group in which the apprentices from all different departments come together help one another and complete projects such as arranging networking events. We are also encouraged to complete at least 4 hours voluntary work in the community which not only makes a change in our surrounding area but helps with networking and team building. It's up to individuals and their managers how involved they get in these events but from my experience they have been great.

Yes

I would recommend Cummins to anyone as the values that everyone operates under are brilliant and from my experience it's a very positive environment to be in. There are a lot of development opportunities and those in senior positions are very transparent in terms of changes/ improvements taking place. As an apprentice I have loved my time at Cummins because I have been treat as a professional member of the team and provided so much support and opportunities.

As Cummins is a very large business it's useful to understand the different areas of the company and how they interlink. The company website is also very useful in seeing current project updates etc and it advises of the 5 company values which are implemented into all aspects of the job from my experience.