Mortgage Credit Risk Data Analyst Review

The people I worked with on my placement were lovely, which created a really nice atmosphere in the office. There were team socials and lots to get involved in. The work was also interesting, however, as most jobs, some bits were more interesting than others.

As a placement student, you are treated as a normal member of staff and are given similar work to everyone else. Your ideas are appreciated and opinions valued.

On the placement, you have both your manager and a buddy for guidance. For myself, my manager mainly helped me with development plans and career advice. My buddy helped more with any technical work I didn't understand.

I was busy enough to keep me occupied, however, not so busy I couldn't get the job done. The nature of the work is cyclical and therefore some times were busier than others.

I was given a similar level of responsibility to the graduates in the team. The more time in my placement, the more responsibility I was given. The bank has a policy that everybody's work is peer reviewed by another member of the team to minimise errors. This meant that the responsibility of work, wasn't concerning. I also peer reviewed permanent member of staff's work.

Where the placement hasn't necessarily improved my maths skills, I have learnt how they can be applied in a work environment. Coding isn't particularly useful for my degree, however, it has hugely improved my employability into any data analyst role.

The atmosphere of the office was brilliant. It was never silent, however, it also wasn't too loud to work.

On arrival we had brilliant training and introductions, we had quarterly reviews and biweekly meetings with managers to assess performance.

The first 3/4 weeks of our placement were all related to training. 1 week was at the training centre in Solihull, where the placement students from around the country came together and received relevant training for all of us. In the office, we were given SAS booklets to work though for a week, this was followed by a week of workshops, where senior analysts took us through more complex coding and we were given tasks to work through. The small classroom atmosphere was very effective. Throughout the rest of our placement, there were several more department training days, concentrating on presenting skills, excel, VBA, influencing skills, confidence workshop and more.

Although currently on a recruitment freeze, my manager has said that senior managers have discussed who they would take on in a future role, if they have any vacancies. I am keeping in contact regarding this. Several placement students have secured a place on the graduate scheme, I didn't apply for it as it doesn't suit me.

In my department of approximately 40 people, 11 were placement students. This meant that the team on average, was very young, meaning that the social scene was brilliant.

I worked in Leeds, which is a lot cheaper than London. I stayed living in the student area, so my rent was approximately £75 a week. The bus into work is £1, however, it is also possible to walk. Socialising cost depends on whether you go to the student nightlife or more young professional places. It is still pretty reasonable.

Leeds is a student city so the nightlife is great.

The department has a football team, an ultimate Frisbee team, often go bowling, out for drinks, have pool tournaments, quizes etc etc. There's lots to get involved in.