Apprentice Review

I found the insight quite enjoyable as during the two weeks I have spent there I got the chance to experience what it is like working for multiple departments, such as accounting, data organisaton, marketing and finances. People were very nice and helpful all the time, which made the experience overall enjoyable, even though debt recovery or enforcement a field I wanted to go into.

Although my manager did support me during the insight I would not necessarily say I felt extremely valued during my stay, which is possibly due to my inexperience in the field and inability to provide that much value myself. However as I mentioned I was trusted with working on important data and files as well as the company website.

Since I did not know much about the field and the company itself it was extremely important for me to receive guidance, and The Sheriffs Office staff (in all departments, especially my manager) were very helpful and explained everything thoroughly. They also were not annoyed by me asking questions and were always keen on helping me learn more about that particular department.

The skills I developed I found to be really useful when it comes to my studies. While debt recovery and enforcement field specific skills are not the most useful for my field of study, teamwork and communication as well as other soft skills I have learnt are immensely valuable and did (still does) help with college, university or job interviews.

The insight was very well structured, on the first day my manager laid out a programme for me, showing what I will be doing each day, who I will be working with and what my tasks will involve. This meant there was no confusion what I needed to, and enabled me to get a taste of what the company is about in a well constructed and smooth way.

I feel like the atmosphere was generally nice, as people were often chatting to us, but it felt too corporate, serious and boring a lot of times. Everyone was in their "zones" and there wasn't much interaction between co-workers which is not work related. Lunch times were generally better as the atmosphere did relax a bit for that period.

Since I was only staying there for two weeks the company did not invest in my personal development and training that much, however they did train me how to do certain jobs in the office which could help them out during my stay. This included emails, filing and data base organisation.

The insight really helped me to understand what a full time job at The Sheriffs Office would be like as I (when wasn't with various departments) was doing the same job as apprentices working there full time. This meant that I got the same experience as them, understanding what it would be like working there. Furthermore having the chance to work with other departments as well meant that I got a taste of their jobs too, particularly the marketing roles.

The insight was definitely very useful for understand what culture in a corporate environment is like as I got to experience internal communication, team-work and how people spend time with each other in general. As mentioned before I found the company culture dry and a bit boring most of the time, but I feel like it was an important experience as now I have a greater understanding of what company culture is like in less laid back and more corporate places.

Although at the time I knew what career path I was going to take, the insight was still valuable as I got to experience multiple different job roles and possible career paths. This re-assured me in my decision that I want to go to a different career, but did not offer much more value other than that.

I was not paid for neither my travel or food expenses for the two weeks I was staying there.

There were no allocated time slots for networking opportunities at the time, I was just doing my assigned job roles, however I since I have got to meet nearly all employees of the company I could have expanded my network during my time spent with them, as I usually spent a couple of hours to a day with someone.

There were no networking or social events during my stay at the company.

No, I did not find out about any activities outside of work.

Overall I would recommend this insight to a friend, but only if they are interested in debt recovery and enforcement or one of the fields associated with it or within the company, such as marketing, accounting, social media or marketing. The environment for me was a bit boring and uneventful for me, and there were no events outside of work. If you are only there for work and a specific area that interests you I think The Sheriffs Office can be a great place.