Phoebe's apprenticeship experience

We interviewed Phoebe from the Revenue Finance Team to find out about her apprenticeship experience with us so far.

Our interview with Phoebe

Tell us about yourself

I joined KCC as a finance apprentice in January and have really been enjoying my time here so far. Before joining I had just come out of education and went to university for a short amount of time before realising it wasn’t for me. I came home and started looking for an apprenticeship to help me continue my education whilst gaining relevant experience in the finance sector.

Why did you apply?

My mum encouraged me to apply for the role. She has worked within KCC for the last 4 years and has really enjoyed it. She saw the role come up on the KCC website and thought it would suit me both as a person and academically.

How did you find the recruitment process?

The recruitment process definitely had its challenges - I had never been put through group stages or personality testing before. The group exercise was probably the hardest for me as I was very conscious of how I was portraying myself, but it was somewhat reassuring to know you were in the exact same position as the other 3 people. The interview I really enjoyed in the end- It was nice to meet the same familiar faces in the management group that I had met in the group stages and that made it feel less daunting.

How are you finding the apprenticeship so far?

I’ve really enjoyed my time as KCC so far. I’ve found it challenging but really rewarding and in my short time here I’ve already found I’ve gained skills and knowledge I didn’t have beforehand both about finance and KCC. Everyone has been really welcoming and helpful, having a team that is approachable has made the settling in period much easier.

What has been challenging and how have you overcome this?

Picking up new skills whilst working from home has been quite difficult, especially as my placement requires me to use Excel and quite large and complex spreadsheets. Previously I hadn’t used Excel much so being taught over teams etc. has been a bit challenging.

Where do you aim to be once the course is over?

My long-term goals are to complete my AAT exams and hopefully gain a permanent role within KCC after completing my apprenticeship. I then hope to go onto further studying whilst at KCC.

Tell us an interesting fact about you

My interesting fact is that I used to work full time in professional dressage before joining KCC.