Our apprentices pass the all-important 100-day point

KATE

Kate has now settled into her new position as head of finance at the British Heart Foundation and is enjoying the additional responsibility. 'I have passed the 100-day point, where you are supposed to have changed things significantly,' she says. 'The team have managed to implement about 20 things, so hopefully I've passed that rule.'

One of the big changes to the makeup of the team has been the arrival of a planning forecast manager, who started in October. She will be responsible for looking at budgets, handling the forecasting exercise for the next six months, and working out how best to demonstrate performance against the organisation's strategy.

'Previously, those responsibilities were broadly mine, but she will have more time to get stuck into the business, focus on the fundraising team and give a lot of support to our investment division,' says Kate.

Kate insists the department as a whole is also looking different. Whereas before the focus was on simply getting the financials together, now they are undertaking an outward-looking exercise to see what service the department can offer to the rest of the business. She has been helped in this by finance director Malcolm Hall. 'We both share a vision of how the finance function should be run,' she explains.

So far it sounds as if life has been pretty smooth sailing for Kate following her step up to the role, but have there been any surprises? 'The job is really heavy on people management,' she says. 'Maybe this should be obvious with a team that is 12-strong, but it was surprising to me how much time people management can take up.'

As a result of this and the steep learning curve on which Kate has found herself, she is working longer hours than previously, regularly putting in 10-hour days. While she is happy to accept this for the time being while settling in, she 'wouldn't want that to be the case in six-to-nine month's time'.

JON

Working for a company that is primarily focused on oil and gas means that Jon's job may not be seen as the most eco-friendly. But all that could change over the coming months, when Jon starts working on a wind farm project.

'ConocoPhillips is an energy company, not just an oil and gas company, and while oil and gas isn't going to run out any time soon, we are looking at ways to lower our carbon intensity,' he says.

Jon has got himself involved in the project at what he describes as 'a very early stage'. He is looking into the economics of a project - whether a wind farm will provide a decent return on investment - and will also form part of the team looking into potential planning considerations of the project. He claims there are many considerations you may not have expected, such as potential interference with Ministry of Defence radar or telecommunications systems.

Jon estimates that the project is currently taking up around a fifth of his time and while he is finding it enjoyable, he may never see the fruits of his labour.

'Projects such as these have a long lead time, and the main work for me is the modelling side, so it's unlikely I'd actually see them being built.'

With investment costs of around $40m (£20m), Jon says the expense isn't hugely important to a company of ConocoPhillips' size, but it does have importance in terms of learning about wind power and moving further into renewable energy.

Elsewhere, Jon is still trying to keep overseas trips down to a minimum, but is due to go to Amsterdam soon as part of a gas price contract renegotiation with a Spanish company.

He is also thinking ahead to the possibility of working overseas, but he will not be discussing this with his manager until next year and is unlikely to make a move until after he has completed two years in the job next April.

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