Finance role Review

Working at Caterpillar was a very enjoyable experience that will hopefully stand me in good stead after university. The atmosphere at Cat was very friendly and everyone was always ready to help out with any queries which made the working environment very relaxed and easy going.

The placement role at Caterpillar is true job role. You get many responsibilities throughout you 12 months where you ar able to meet a wide range of people in the organisation. Everyone is treated equal at Cat and I never felt unwanted and inferior. Everyone understands your position at Cat and has plenty of time for you.

Support and Guidance was offered throughout the role where weekly desk reviews were provided if they need be. My supervisor was always ready to help me with any problem at any time so these desk reviews weren't as necessary as there was ongoing support. I also had a quarterly meeting with my supervisors manager where I was able to express any issues I may have had higher up.

With the role being a finance role the first two weeks of every month was very busy as most files had to updated with the previous months information. At the beginning it seems like an awful lot of work as you feel like you're being dropped in at the deep end as you've never experienced anything like it before; but very quickly into the placement you start to feel comfortable with the task you are given and feel confident providing any feedback to your supervisor. The back end of the month varied from being quite quiet allowing you to catch up on bits and pieces which was nice, to being just as busy with the like of Business planning at the end of the year. As the year goes on you get given a few more responsibilities as you become more efficient at current tasks which make work quite constant but more interesting. This being said there is always plenty of time to get the work done allowing you take your time over projects and not get stressed.

The responsibility given is the right amount, as the longer you are in the role the more responsibility you get which works well. rather than being stuck with the same tasks every month.

You develop most of the skills you have attained form university and school very quickly as the need to be able to work professionally with colleagues is important. Your interpersonal skills also improve dramatically as presenting data to budget holders for example was something I was nervous to do. However, everything just comes naturally once you've been in the working environment for a few months. The experience you gain in invaluable and will only benefit you in the future.

The atmosphere in the office is very cheerful, with people always willing to talk about stuff outside of work. Since I was the only finance placement student at Cat most colleagues were a bit older but this was never an issue. once you get to know people throughout the 3 offices on site because of the role you meet people with similar interest quiet quickly. Since there were other placement and graduate employees at the same site we were all able to meet up for lunch which was a nice break during the day.

The placement was well organised from the start, with there being a week handover with the previous placement student which helped me settle in. The only issue was you had to request access for a whole laud of programmes at the start of the placement which was a bit annoying and made it quite slow but apart from that the structure of the year worked well.

There were quiet a few opportunities to get involved in online courses throughout the year where by I could choose whether I wanted to attend and ultimately benefit from it or not. As well as mini excel classes which were there to help with everyday functions when on excel There is also a personal development programme where individual goals are set each quarter which you have to try and work towards.

Caterpillar is a global company so in the future there will always be chance to move around the world Even though there is no graduate scheme at the Leicester facility since you have already worked for cat your chance to get a job straight after university is high if you wish to stay with Cat. The benefits that come with working at Cat are also very appealing wit a good share scheme and chance to move within Leicester and abroad.

I lived with two other placement engineering students at the same facility as me on the west side of Leicester which made things a lot easier as I already knew a few people before starting work. cat work with the graduates and placements to see about living arrangements which I'm thankful for. Since the graduates started in September there has been quiet a good social scene with there being something planned quiet often like bowling or a night out. Living with two placement students makes the weekends more enjoyable as well even though you can't compare it to university life. There is also a social team within the finance department who organise events however not many take this up.

The cost of living is very cheap in Leicester and for our 3 bed house we pay £61 excluding bills which coms to about £67 a week, car sharing to work every day also kept the cost down. Weekends varied to what you wanted to do really, having the opportunity to go out was always there. The Desford facility is located in the countryside about 15mins west of Leicester so there is not much around the facility, but living in Leicester this did not matter.

Even though we didn't go out that much compared to University, there was always an opportunity to go out, with Leicester having quite a good nightlife. Especially some nice bars

There was a social committee that organised events like mini golf and bowling within the finance department, some events were more popular than others. Every few months there is an interdepartmental night out across the whole offices. These were quite good as you got to meet people more your own age that you hadn't come across before.