Finance Apprentice Review

I really enjoy my job role as I get to do a wide variety of tasks which allows me to see many different sides of the business. Some of my day-to-day tasks involve completing balance sheet reconciliations, booking income, reviewing and paying rebates to clients and making sure we are compliant with all relevant regulations.

I have learnt loads of new skills during my apprenticeship. I had no knowledge of accounting before I joined M&G and now I have built a good foundation of knowledge from my studies and from my job role. I have also improved on my excel skills and started using accounting systems for the first time.

I really enjoy my apprenticeship programme. It has definitely been hard work and can be stressful at time trying to balance revising for exams and a full time job role but it is definitely a rewarding challenge. I have enjoyed studying CIMA and have had lots of support from work in completing exams.

I think the course programme is well structured on paper however I found it took quite a while for work to get me enrolled on my programme. I also found my provider to not be very good with the apprenticeship. I did think Kaplan (my provider) was good when it came to teaching me the course for the exams and I was well prepared for each exam. I think it is possible to achieve the apprenticeship in 18-24 months.

My manager is very supportive when it comes to my apprenticeship. She helps wherever she can and is always accommodating of any classroom sessions or exams I have. M&G offers study leave for classroom sessions where I go to my training provider and get taught the exam content. For each exam M&G offers 2.5 days of study leave.

I found the tutors at the training provider to be really helpful and knowledgeable about the course content and they made me feel well prepared for each exam. My training provider also offered loads of online material and practice questions to complete as part of revision. I was also assigned a 'Talent Coach' to assist in the apprenticeship end point assessments, I found my first talent coaches to be less helpful, difficult to contact and he wasn't too knowledgeable of what I was supposed to be doing. I have since been given a new talent coach who is much more helpful and I am much happier.

I feel that the qualification (CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting) helps me perform much better in my job role. I found at school I was taught topics that had no real world implications so I've really enjoyed learning my course in the classroom and then going to my job and seeing it be put into use.

There are unofficial sports team which get together and play matches, specifically football. There are also yoga and Pilates classes run at lunch times. Apprentices get invited to lots of networking events to help you meet more people and M&G is also linked to Investment2020 which is a great way to meet people in your industry.

Yes

I've really enjoyed working for M&G, there is a great office culture, it is relaxed and everyone is very friendly. M&G offers lots of benefits to it's employees to make sure everyone has a good work-life balance and there are also lots of incentives which really appealed to me such as donating to charity and working to be a more sustainable company.

My advise to anyone else applying to M&G Investments is to do your research on the company and stay calm during interviews. There are a lot of stages to get through but if you look up interview questions and do lots of preparation you will be fine! M&G is a great company to work for.