Finance Summer Placement Student Review

The team and fellow students made the scheme very enjoyable but one half of the placement wasn't as busy as I had hoped it would be. The second half of my placement was very enjoyable.

In the first half of my placement I did not have very much responsibility nor did I manage to input any successful insight, but the second team I was with really made me feel valued and gave me real responsibility.

Managers and supervisors usually were ready to answer any questions I had truthfully and promptly, although sometimes supervisors were too busy to take time to explain a procedure to me so I was unable to complete any tasks efficiently.

Usually quite busy, although I had time to complete HR forms, plan my week and if anything urgently needed doing it would never mean I couldn't get the rest of my daily tasks done.

I was given a very enjoyable project which was completely my own to run from start to finish. Unfortunately this was for three weeks out of twelve and the rest of my tasks were not crucially important.

Some systems skills (SAP, Oracle, Axiom), technical knowledge (Excel) and soft skills (communication, time management) that I have developed I will probably build on considerably in the future. However, there wasn't much formal training attached to this scheme which was a shame.

Pleasant, more fun and relaxed in one placement than the other. But overall the offices were friendly and welcoming, and always helpful if I had a question.

Perhaps some information such as where our next placement would be could have been released a bit earlier, or maybe a more Finance-tailored induction session would have been useful, just to get to grips with the internal structure of the company. Otherwise the internship was well organised.

Many meetings and sessions with my sponsors and managers were organised to make sure I felt fulfilled and listened to anything I wasn't pleased about. However it is always difficult to invest in personal development in such a short amount of time.

The graduate scheme looks very promising.

There were regular opportunities for playing sports with my colleagues, and all the summer placement students got along really well and met up frequently.

There were many opportunities to socialise, exercise and keep busy but none of these were particularly affordable, especially from a student budget. The best option was intra-TfL groups for sports which meant you could exercise for a bit cheaper and meet people from around the company in a different environment.

Both placements had good nightlife.

There was definitely free time, and many opportunities were available. However this made the days quite long between work, extra activities and commuting.