Faye Cousins

Scheme: Finance Graduate

Hi, I’m Faye Cousins and I’m on the Centrica Finance Graduate Scheme. I’m from Warwickshire and graduated from the University of Manchester in 2023 with a degree in Economics. I enjoy going to the gym, listening to podcasts, and socialising with friends and family.

What does a typical ‘day in the life’ look like for you?

I am currently in a Financial Control role in the Shared Services team at Centrica. A normal day for me may involve working with third parties on property budgets for next year. These may be budgets for the rent, rates and service charge of properties in Centrica’s portfolio. Or it may be the catering and facilities costs for each site which would take the length of lease, occupancy levels and use of the site into account. Checking these budgets against previous years and run rates is important to identify any anomalies. I may also work on preparing the month end reporting for property or reporting against in-month variances. Other aspects of the day may include answering queries on certain costs or providing information to different stakeholders around the business and in the Property Team.

Is there anything to get involved in outside of work?
The graduate scheme at Centrica is quite a large cohort and there are often people arranging different activities – anything from rounders to five-a-side football. There are often events arranged by HR for the whole graduate scheme and activities are also encouraged within teams. I arranged an event myself with two others on the Finance Graduate Scheme, as we organised a social in London for the summer interns, year in industries and graduates on the Finance Stream. I’m based in the Windsor office with the racecourse next-door so I have also gone there after work before with my team.

What about learning and development?

The Finance Scheme has three rotations across the three years – so you are in a different team in each year. I have had incredible opportunities and support to develop my skills and the work itself has gone hand in hand with the ACA exams I have sat. I’ve been able to push myself out of my comfort zone to improve both hard and soft skills. Each rotation is with an entirely different team which is such a unique and valuable aspect of Centrica’s graduate scheme, as it means you gain such a wide range of different experiences.