Business Administrator Apprentice Review

* handling collaborator invoices * booking catering, visitor parking permits, meeting rooms and travel * minuting meetings * costing projects * communicating with researchers, financial approvers and team members * training * working on the induction pages of the team's SharePoint site * monitoring the Team's inbox * handling the transactions which bounce to a suspense account

* Oracle Financials - extracting information, transferring and journaling costs * X5 (an internal costing software) * SharePoint * Outlook * Excel * Word * Visio * interpersonal communications e.g. email etiquette * professionalism e.g. sick leave etiquette * time keeping * task management * financial attention to detail - e.g. comparing currencies for a better deal * inter-team cooperation and coordination

The work is interesting and engaging. It is rewarding to know that I am contributing, admittedly in a small way, to medical research. My colleagues are generally nice and always willing to lend a hand or explain something; there is a near constant hum of questions in the office so its not daunting to ask questions. My manager is lovely, supportive and her awareness of my disabilities makes my work environment accessible.

I have had a couple of technical difficulties with my college course but they appear to have been resolved and, other than them, everything has run smoothly. I have been given a comprehensive and simple to understand outline for my apprenticeship and its End Point Assessment. I have monthly meetings with my my assessment coordinator to discuss my assignments, in which I receive detail and constructive feedback. I have five reviews with my training coordinator before triggering the End Point Assessment Gateway and I have weekly 1-1s with my line manager.

I have weekly 1-1s with my line manager to discuss my progress and the job in general. She is aware of both the existence of my disabilities and what their impact can be so she is able and willing to make adjustments. There is an atmosphere of asking colleagues when unsure about a task so there is never the feeling of impeding when I need something explaining.

I have monthly meetings with my assessment coordinator for constructive feedback on my assignments, advice on my End Point Assessment and to generally touch base. I have five reviews with my training coordinator before triggering my End Point Assessment Gateway to examine my progress and to catch any weak spots. I have a ten week college course and the lecturer has been very understanding of my technical difficulties and supporting of me catching up.

The assignments I've had for the academic side of my apprenticeship have encouraged me to learn more about my employer, eg my organisational structure assignment. The training-log hours requirement has encouraged me to seek out a broader range of employer provided training than I would otherwise have accessed and the greater understanding of business administration I have acquired from the college course have both provided general improvement in my role. However, there is only a minimal link between my qualification and specific improvements.

* since I started, there has been a team lunch and there is another in the process of being organised * coming up there is a collaborative lunch between my team and some members of the NDM Finance team * we are in the process of booking our Christmas party * there is a social committee * there is an EDI committee * there is some kind of quilting project going on

Yes

The University has been a fair and accommodating employer which is interesting and fulfilling to work for. My line manager's experience with previous apprentices means she is familiar with the specific requirements of a training role and how it differs from a typical employee. the University fosters a culture of learning which makes it easy to seek training opportunities.

* fill out all of the application work to as high a standard as possible because it all gets looked at * for the pre-interview research, look up the division and department you're applying to as well as the University as a whole because Oxford has a highly devolved organisational structure