7 trainee finance roles in 6 months!

At Specsavers, we know how important it is to feel you’re progressing within your chosen career, which is why we offer a variety of trainee roles within our functions. Within the last 6 months we have successfully employed 7 new trainee roles within finance at our Guernsey office. We spoke to them to find out how they’re doing in the world of Specsavers and finance.

Sophie Harrison, a commercial analyst within Supply Chain, spoke to us about how beneficial it is to be able to attend course days during working hours –

“We get College days – so we don’t have the added stress/exhaustion of evening classes on top of work – which I think is really beneficial to our learning because we’re not already tired from work, we get the day before an exam off to study – which can be really beneficial to get the last few things straight before the exam. Working at Specsavers, there’s a lot of people studying here so if you’re unsure of something, there’s always someone who’s recently sat the exam who’s able to help! You get a sponsorship deed, paying for your studies and courses.”

There’s also the question of why choose Specsavers to study your financial qualifications? As many people believe they won’t have a peer group to support them. We asked Heidi Crozier, a financial reporting analyst, what it’s like to study at Specsavers –

“The work is really varied and you can get exposure to lots of areas and have the potential to move departments. The study support and training is really good and there are quite a few people studying for the same qualification in my team who are all willing to help with areas I’m stuck on. You can take it at your own pace and have no pressure to study for qualifications if you don’t want to.”

We also asked Heidi what the work/life balance is like at Specsavers when you’re trying to juggle work, studying and play –

“The work life balance is really good. My hours are 35 per week and we are encouraged to stick to those hours and not do overtime unless it’s really necessary, which is generally only at year end or a few minutes here and there. My manager sees having a life outside of work as really important so there is a very flexible attitude when life gets in the way of work sometimes.”

Finally, we asked for some advice from our trainees if you’re thinking about starting a career within finance as we know changing or starting a new career can be a daunting thing –

Louise Grantham

“Make sure you do the right course for you and make sure you work for the right company that will support you through that.”

Sophie Harrison

“Not to be scared to apply if your grades aren’t perfect because I was scared to put my application into any firms due to getting average A-level results.”

Linaka Duckworth

“I was not aware how broad the term ‘finance’ can be. Since starting, I have realised how many different teams and roles there are within finance. If you can, look into what kind of thing different teams do, to try and find the role that you would be most suited for.”

If you think a role within finance sounds like you then  take a look  at our latest roles here.