I was a Biomedical Science graduate who hated working in a Lab, how ironic. I accidently stumbled into a career in Finance. Fast forward two years, I am now working in DFT and I haven’t looked back since. I currently work as a Finance Admin Associate for Passenger Services.
I am part of a team that challenges and reports on the strategic direction of the entire admin budget, from planning/approvals, through ‘pre-purchase’, delivery, purchase-to-pay and financial reporting to the Managing Director and DfT Finance. I am responsible for specific Cost Centre’s and the relationships with the relevant budget holder of those Cost Centres.
A typical day involves updating forecasts for the various directorates and organising challenge meetings to help produce these forecasts. I need to make sure that I get a clear understanding of the reasons significant variations from budget have occurred and convey important emerging positions to the senior Finance Manager. The quality of work I produce has a significant impact on the decisions senior managers make which makes the job all the more rewarding.
First thing I found was everyone I interacted with were incredibly welcoming and provided a lot of support especially during my first few months when I was still trying to get to grips with my Job.
I believe one of the best things about working in DFT is their philosophy of providing an environment that you can continually develop and improve yourself. I am currently studying to be a fully qualified accountant and as result DFT have put me on an apprenticeship programme where the study material, tuition and the cost of exams are fully funded. Furthermore, I have been provided with 20% of the job training which I can use to study or go on training organised by the tuition provider. This equates to one day a week. This is an incredible opportunity and I highly recommend this programme if you have any ambitions of working in finance. Furthermore, my managers are genuinely supportive in my personal and professional development and I know if there is any learning I would like to take, all I need to do is ask and they will do everything in their power to provide it for me.
Flexible working is encouraged in DFT, this has been a great help in managing my work and personal life especially when dealing with life admin. Even before COVID 19 turned our lives upside down I was WFH once or twice a week, sometimes more depending on what was going on in my life and how my week was set up in regards to attending meetings etc.