• What does a Finance Graduate do?

I rotate across 4 areas of finance: Procurement, Commercial Finance, Internal Audit and Shared Services. Here I get an understanding of some of the different areas in finance throughout the company. I am currently in my first rotation,  Procurement, which is all about buying the necessary materials and services to make our products. My favourite part of this is interacting with suppliers, looking at areas to improve our spend and improving the sustainability throughout the business.

• How did you end up in this job?

Once completing my studies I decided that I was more interested in the financial aspect of my degree, so I began applying for roles within finance, during my research of CCEP I found that there goals on employee development and sustainability aligned strongly with my own interests and that it was therefore a place I would be interested in working for.

• What advice would you give to someone thinking of pursuing this career?

When applying for roles in finance I faced many rejections so my advise would be to not take it personally and use each application as an opportunity to improve the next.

• If you had the chance to do it all over again, what would you do the same / differently?

I would not do anything differently, I am thoroughly enjoying my role and learning every day. I look forward to learning about the other areas of finance and seeing what the future brings after the graduate scheme

• What was your starting salary?

£32,000 + Bonus

• How long have you been doing your job?

3.5 months

• Has your salary changed since then – if not do you see salary progression?

For the finance graduate scheme they also offer to fund an accounting qualification, as part of this each level you complete will correspond to a salary increase. Outside of this salaries are also reviewed annually.

• Where do you see yourself in five years time?

I hope to have specialised into an area of finance I find the most interesting.