Finance Apprentice Review

My role is within the destination settlement team as a payment coordinator. My responsibilities as a payment coordinator include making sure that hoteliers get paid on time, managing queries in our mailboxes and also chasing hoteliers for missing invoices. On a day to day basis I have to answer queries from hotels which are usually about invoices not being paid or deductions being made to invoices which hoteliers require an explanation for. I often have to look into hotels contracts in order to calculate bookings and then explain my calculations to the hoteliers. One of my responsibilities has also been to monitor open GRNI and make sure this is kept at a minimum.

My role has allowed me to continue to develop my Maths and English skills. On a day to day basis, I have to construct professional emails which has helped me to improve my English skills. I also have to calculate bookings using room rates, early booking discounts and tax supplements which has helped with my maths skills. My role has also helped me to develop better Excel skills which will be valuable to me going forward in my career in finance.

I really enjoy my role. It has allowed me to build professional relationships with internal and external members of the business, and I have been able to present myself in a professional manner. I also really enjoy studying for my AAT alongside my day to day role. I believe the program will be very valuable to me as I am working towards a professional qualification whilst also gaining valuable work experience.

The programme is very well structured. I move roles on a 4 month rotation which allows me to gain work experience in lots of different departments within Finance. The programme is also structured in a way that makes sure we get our 20% off the job learning time which allows me to attend college classes and also study for exams.

My employer and managers have all been very supportive with both my day to day work and also my studies. As I am moving teams so often, my managers have always been very helpful in making sure I get enough training and support, especially as most people in the business mainly work remotely now. We are also offered a lot of wellbeing support at work too.

Our college lessons are all over zoom. All of the tutors I have had so far have been very good and have helped me to pass exams. The only negative I would say is the admin side can be frustrating at times as it often takes quite a while to get responses back from my training provider. I also have to submit development tasks every month, and often the one from the previous month does not get marked by my skills coach before I have to submit the next. This can also be frustrating as I have to follow this up a lot.

I feel my training provider does assist me in performing better in my role. I often have to attend skills days at college which are really useful and I am able to take what I learn on these skills days and apply it to my day to day role. For example, I recently attended a skills day called 'focus on risk.' I was able to then apply this at work by making sure I always use professional scepticism and making sure I don't send out any incorrect financial information which may pose a risk to the business.

As most people working from home now due to Covid, we don't have too many extra curricular activities at work. We do have a social event every couple of months where the directors of the company come in to the office to give us an update on how the business is doing etc.

Yes

I would definitely recommend TUI to a friend. The working environment is so flexible and friendly. Every team I have worked in so far have been supportive and assisted me in getting the most out of the role. They also make sure you get enough time to study for exams and attend college courses.

I would say there are lots of opportunities within TUI to progress with your career. The apprenticeship scheme is a great way to gain work experience whilst also studying towards a professional qualification. It is a great company to work for, and the working environment is always positive and friendly.