Rating

5/10
  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
  • Executive Finance Officer within Defra. My daily tasks involve running and updating financial and management reports within the IS Finance Team. Raising purchase orders and receipting them. Internal I interact with those in my direct team and those in the wider finance group. I am responsible for our IBM project mailbox, monitoring emails and responding to queries. I am mainly involved in the running of the IBM and Capgemini projects for our team.

    8/10

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
  • I have developed my excel skill massively and learnt how to present reports in the proper format.

    7/10

  • 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
  • I have a varied amount of work and my team are very friendly. The company culture is nice.

    6/10

  • 4. How valued do you feel by Civil Service?
  • I do not feel valued that much as I am an apprentice.

    3/10

  • 5. How well organised/structured is your programme?
  • My structure isn't as clear as I'd like, it get given tasks as and when its needed, my programme wasn't overall well organised as I am the only finance apprentice within defra. My study with Kaplan however is good.

    4/10

  • 6a. How much support do you receive from your training provider?
  • I receive all the notes and have access to an online help page with lots more revision tips an pages. However I feel the tutors do not always explain things in great detail and often assume we know it so a lot of the time I learn more when revising.

    7/10

  • 6b. How much support do you receive from your employer?
  • I get to take study days when I need it (half a day a week max) but I can build this time up and use it closer to when I have an exam.

    7/10

  • 7. How well does your salary/package meet your costs?
  • I spend around a third of my wage packet a month on travel to work and college, it takes up a large amount and can sometimes be a struggle. the location of my college is in Leeds which is over 4 and half hours away to travel and so I have to stay in a hotel over night.

    2/10

  • 8. Are there many opportunities outside of work?
  • There aren't many company events, I often volunteer to help promote the Fast track scheme but these are rare. There isn't any sports or leisure clubs that I would find enjoyable and everything is self funded.

    1/10

  • 9. Would you recommend Civil Service to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 9b. Why?
  • Its a good opportunity for young people as jobs are few and far between, it is very competitive but good to have once you've got your foot in the door.


  • 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Civil Service?
  • The application process is hard and the onboarding process is very long and stressful, do not not expect anything to be done quickly. I interviewed for my role in May 2016, got the job offer in October 2016 and then didn't start the actual job until March 2017. I would have like to been informed on this when I applied as it was very stressful and I was left in the dark a lot about what my role was and where I'd be etc. I wasn't provided a job description and contract until the week before I started.


Details

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Accounting, Finance

Central London & City

March 2017


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