Operational Reporting Analyst Review

If I am honest I found the transition from university to work a little challenge. The work environment is completely different to anything I have ever experienced because it is the first time I have worked for such as big company. Through the year I received support to understand the business and the wider areas which really allowed me to excel and make the most of the year. I enjoyed moving from home for the first time which was an experience in itself, which allowed me to learn a lot of skills outside work. I also enjoyed. But I am most proud to say I have worked for the 4th biggest company in the world (by market capitalisation) and through fast changing environments due to one of the biggest financial sales of history, the sale of GE Capital!

During placement year I was never valued as an intern, I was valued as a work colleague which I really respect. Whether is was contact with the CRO or even employees working on the dialler phones through customers, everyone shared respect. I could see the value with the kind of work I was given and to be responsible for. All stakeholders are different in all companies, some credited me for the work and some didn't but I think that is very similar in most companies.

During the placement year I was given a lot of support and guidance by my various stakeholders. The support was shown in many ways e.g. tutorials to learn technical skills, attending training courses, understanding business concepts in meetings but the biggest one being learning on the job and being given feedback. This was great as I was able to get guidance in order to excel in what I work in.

My main piece of work was monthly reporting on various departments on the business, as well as analysing the data and presenting it to senior stakeholders. This would mean I would be very busy during the beginning part of the month, which left the rest of the month to be quieter. The rest of the month I would leave to crack on with additional projects, ad hoc requests and being pro active to take part in other initiatives. For the first 7 months of my placement I was very busy for the full month but because my company was being sold the work drastically reduced. This left me being not as busy as I usually would. Some parts of the affect on the sale would make me busy such as regulatory and audit actions which I had to complete (such as additional reporting) but sometimes work cut down due to the company shrinking. But generally the business would find me something to complete to keep me busy.

Whilst working at GEMHL (General Electric Home Lending) I was given a lot of responsibility. I would create and present monthly reporting to senior leaders and even the COO. Many times they would questions why the business is showing these results and I would have to investigate reasons why some figures may have fluctuated. I also created many reports that directly impact the customer and senior managements decision making on the customer journey. Overall there was a lot more responsibility on my shoulders as an intern than I would have thought about.

The best part of placement year has to be the skills I have gained and developed. This is priceless and can definitely be utilised in any career I wish to pursue. Skills such as communication, analytical, problem solving, work ethic, initiative, motivation and drive are not only set to the role I completed as an intern. These traits can be used at work (regardless of role), university, home and in general life. My colleagues and I have witnessed a huge progression in my development which will definitely help for the transition from final year university to when I work as a graduate.

The general atmosphere around the workplace was great! Everyone was friendly and it wasn't a corporate environment.. Done get me wrong, when the work was needed to get done or there was a problem we had to crack on with it but the general atmosphere was great. Full of jokes, laughs and people talking. It was a good mix of corporate and social atmosphere.

The internship was well organised, the three weeks we had an itinerary of what to do which was great and then after that we got into the work. Due to the sale of GE capital international, this had an affect of the structure of the placement because we did work that we didn't intend to do but the great thing is that its all good experience! Also leading from that we didn't have some things us interns would take part in that we used to such as regular monthly intern meeting due to the sales and how busy we all were!

The firm invested great amount of time and resource for interns like me to get the most of the year. If I am honest I was very 'scared' of even thinking to use excel but now I love it! I know there will be a lot of people like me that don't want to use excel but the tutorials they had and on the job training was so good that it has enabled me to have a different outlook on it. I attended various training courses too which are highly accredited in industry. I attended Influencing skills, presentation skills, crisis management training and various eLearning's. These were very useful and I was able to learn and use aspects of these training throughout the year. I also had the chance to attend GE networking events organised by my university Aston University and GE. This was probably one of the highlights of placement year because it was an informal way to be exposed to senior leaders in different GE businesses.

Unfortunately I had my heart to stay with GE, not in the current role or area, but in GE Capital in general - but they are getting sold off. GE have FMP programs which are very good and I will definitely be applying to that once I have completed university. Other than this program there is not much else for me in terms future employment prospects. There are entry level roles in GE and other graduate schemes such as an IT program but I don't really want to go into that.

There was a good social scene at the beginning and end of placement, but for most of the placement year everyone was busy with work. Interns would stay after work or just generally be tired after work. Most of the weekends were spent just relaxing too but on many occasions the interns got together and planned things out. Overall it was good.

Personally I was lucky, my uncle had an apartment which was available so I stayed there and didn't pay a penny! I managed to save a lot of money as I set out to. Generally the cost of living in Watford is reasonable. They had all types of shops on Watford high street and there was a local Morrison's near to work, which always do good deals. Socialising wasn't to bad to. I didn't really go out but when I went out with the team the company paid for it which would take place once a year.

I am not sure about the nightlife at Watford because I would go back home which was in central London. But from what I heard it was good. There are loads of restraunts on Watford high street that would be open till late hours. Also there was Watford football club close by which would be a great atmosphere during footie nights! Overall it was good, but this is what I have heard.

I got involved with volunteering events through work 1) To clean a national parks river banks 2) helping with young enterprise at Watford boys school. Where I lived was near regents parks so I would often walk, run or play footie there. That was something I really enjoyed after work, the ability to go to regents park in my leisure and convenience.