Finance is not scary! with apprentice Zakaria Bentaleb

Zakaria Bentaleb

I'm Zak, 22 years old and I am currently undertaking a Level 5 Manager and Operations Apprenticeship, leading me to become a future director at Umbrella Training.

My roles consist of managing payroll and the accounts, marketing, creating content and surveys, recruitment duties and sorting applicants for the employer, as well as all the odds and sods that come with being a director.

My feelings towards finance prior to the apprenticeship were probably the same as many people who do not understand it.

I did not do too well in school with economics so to be taking a lead on Umbrella’s finances was daunting. To put the cherry on top, I am terrible at maths!! So yeah, finance was definitely a scary thing for me.

Time

My biggest challenge was making sure the payroll and accounts were accurate and paid on time.

Some businesses submit their invoices later in the month towards the end and some towards the beginning, so it was a struggle keeping up with the timings. I eventually got the hang of things and was able to ensure the finances were managed well.

I am now able to do payroll and accounts each month without errors or fail – did I think I would be able to do this a year ago? No, most definitely not.

It just goes to show that overthinking things can have a detrimental effect on your ability to actually do.

My advice for others would be to have confidence and belief in your ability so exceed in a role.

Do not let your own head create blocks for you to stick you in that comfort zone, take a leap of faith, ask questions, and try until you succeed. 

The greatest teacher is failure, so learn from it and eventually you’ll be doing whatever it is you are doing like that back of your hand 😊

Zakaria Bentaleb - March 2021