Based at Baxters flagship Fochabers site, Millie joined the company’s European Finance team in June, her first job since leaving school. To develop her knowledge and understanding of finance, with the support of Baxters she is now undertaking a BA (Hons) in Accounting through a Graduate Apprenticeship at Robert Gordon University which she started in the Autumn.

Through the programme, Millie will undertake five years of study in total, including her ICAS qualification, while gaining work experience at Baxters. She attends RGU once during every eight-week module and each week has seven hours of protected study time split across two days. During her working time, Millie is gaining hands on experience across all areas of Commercial and Operational Finance within Baxters, including Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable whilst learning about our systems, processes, products, customers and suppliers.

Millie explains: “Learning and then applying my skills in the workplace is how I learn best so a Graduate Apprenticeship is the perfect option for me. After leaving school, I was keen to get into the world of work but fully aware of the importance of having a qualification behind me to achieve my goal of becoming a fully qualified accountant.

“This opportunity with Baxters is incredible. It is hard work but I feel very lucky to be fully supported in my career ambitions with a huge amount of support, particularly from my mentor, Laine Herd, Head of Business Performance, and having the opportunity to complete tasks at work directly linked to my studies whilst also building a network within the business.”

Millie also gets to experience a little of university life during ‘in person days’ at RGU. On these occasions, the graduate apprentices come together to go through all recent course content covered and undertake a related group activity whilst also learning some new topics.

Millie said: “The ‘in person days’ are really good because it is a chance to catch up with all of my classmates and get to know them better as well as see how they are finding the work and discuss the content.

“As the GA is mostly completed online with live classes on teams it is nice to just see everyone in person, including my lecturer, and have some face-to-face interaction. Overall, I have been enjoying the experience so far and think it is an ideal set up for us GAs!”

When not working and studying, Millie, who used to play football for Aberdeen, loves going to the gym and doing hill walks, cooking and baking as well as spending time with her family and friends.

Millie added: “Having grown up locally, I know Baxters well and it’s amazing to now be working for a highly respected local company with such a deep family heritage and a passion to always be better. I intend to make the most of this opportunity and I’m excited for what the next few years will bring!”

30 October 2025