The fantastic advantage of being the Apprentice means that after sixteen weeks at a placement I move on to a new challenge, which makes it really easy to focus quickly and get my head down. That is exactly what I did at Deloitte.
I joined in the second week of September, and was immediately working with the Deloitte Graduates who were part of the 2007 intake. The International Tax team were a fantastic group of people, and we were all welcomed into the team with open arms and Free Drinks Friday… In the UK, all personal tax returns have to be with HMRC by the 31st January, which meant that the four months leading up to this deadline were declared as ‘tax season’ across the accountancy trade. This was a chance to see how a corporate giant really worked, in the middle of the busiest time of the year and to see if I could cope with my slice of the pressure.
The truth is that everyone at Deloitte are fantastic at their job, from the new Graduates to the Partners. They are also always willing to lend a helping hand where they can… which when tax is all new to you, is great to know. In my first week I was preparing tax returns, working on new client projects and helping to collate information relating to share plans for one of the largest clients of the team.
I had never really dealt with much tax other than a few modules while at University, but I was quickly finding that its not all the number crunching that I had visions of it being… in-fact, the work done by the team was a lot more consultancy, giving advice on tax planning issues and helping to make the move abroad for work that much easier for the individuals we were working with.
Aside from the work, my time as Deloitte has left me with some great friends, who I still see out and about. After I left University, a lot of my friends went to work for Corporate firms, as that seems to be the thing to do. It does provide the most structured and secure training platform for someone who is completely new to the working world, and for me, it was great to have that experience, to make the decision as to whether it suited my way of working. The added bonus for me was that I would also see two smaller firms in my year, both working in very different markets and offering me the chance to meet more fantastic people.
I left Deloitte on the day of the Tax Christmas party, where heads were still a little sore from the Department Christmas party the night before… but I left knowing not only that I had helped with my share of the work in the season, but that I had met some people who really enjoyed what they did on a day to day basis. That makes it so much easier to go into work, and to ask these people for help. I asked for a lot of help while I was with the company, and I was never left out in the cold.
The corporate path does not suit everyone, but I really enjoyed my time, and without the Graduate Apprentice, it is a chance that I would never have had.
