Finance Apprentice Review

In my role as an apprentice I was involved in the same work as any regular employee. I was involved in decision making and value add work that had a real impact on the business. Day to day I was involved in pricing cars including options prices and the impact down to a VP level.

I have learnt loads of new skills including specific to my role, ie finance and accounting skills and also more soft skills such as networking, problem solving, presenting, etc. Day release to college meant I gained my professional qualification and was able to put this into practice in the office. I have also gained loads of experience specific to JLR.

The enjoyment from the programme was top level - everyone was so friendly and made me feel so welcome, in every role I was in. You also have your peer group who you can interact with socially and work together through the learning stages of the apprenticeship. The job itself was also very enjoyable - tasks were given to really stretch me and develop me as much as possible.

The structure of the programme is amazing. You get to rotate around roles each year to really experience all aspects of the business. Managers are very understanding of the workload and balancing this with your training. You get one day a week for studying and exams, which again managers are aware of and understanding.

The support level is high - your first port of call is your manager who will always try to resolve the issue or at least point you in the right direction. You are assigned an apprentice manager who manages the apprentices who join each year and have more of an understanding of the learning side of the apprenticeship. And finally you are also given a mentor who you can speak to confidentially and raise any queries or issues with.

BPP offered some support. Individual tutors were really helpful throughout the various courses and the support line were useful on certain occasions. The course notes sent were useful and the online resources were good additional support if your tutor was not available. Overall, the support from BPP was good and got me through my exams.

The qualification supported my role directly by learning specific accounting and finance processes and rules. I was able to put these into practice in my role and perform even better in the role. The roles also support the learning such as specific finance calculations done in the job which in turn I learnt more about while training.

There are loads of social activities both in the team you are in and across the apprentice network. There is a social committe for all apprentices across JLR who organise events such as summer/winter balls, ski trips, weekly go karting sessions, etc. There are JLR networks such as PRIDE, D&I, Gender equality, etc which always hold very useful networking events.

Yes

I would recommend Jaguar Land Rover as the roles I have been in are all very enjoyable, the people I work alongside are very friendly and I have made some very close friends along the way. The development I have gained and skills I have learnt have set me up for life and are very transferable across roles in JLR.

Be open and honest. Be transparent about what you want out of the role, as much as the manager needs you to complete the work, they also have your best interests at heart. If you make it clear what you want to develop, your manager will support you and ensure you become the best employee you can.