Administrative Officer Review

The atmosphere on the placement and the work was very enjoyable, I had a nice mix of being managed but also ensuring I managed my own workload. I also got the opportunity to develop specific skill areas I said I wanted to work on at the start.

I got on with my team really well and increasingly got involved in projects that they were working on before taking on my own. The divisional director also complimented me on my abilities.

My line manager was very good at the beginning answering all the questions I had. She gave me links to different opportunities such as presentations, economics discussions and workshops.

I was quite busy a lot of the time, many things I was working on had different deadlines, I had the usual work which occurred each month alongside the project based work which took up the bulk of my time but had varying deadlines.

I was given a lot of responsibility from the start as they could see I was capable of dealing with large tasks. I innovated a couple of ideas which have been put into place.

I learnt all about economic statistics, how they are produced and different processes such as deflation. I also attended many different talks and discussion groups with graduate economists which was an invaluable experience. I was also given the opportunity to develop my presentation skills, which will help me greatly with my final year presentation.

I got on well with my team, so we always has lots of conversations. I also had plenty of economic debates with another member of my team.

The placement itself was very well set up, the only issue I had was getting a finalised start date and finish date.

There was a lot of internal training I could attend. I was also able to attend a New Thinking in Economics seminar, along with lectures by The Welsh Assembly Government. I was given the time, travel and course expenses for these.

I would still have to apply through the graduate fast stream, but was given the opportunity to go a few assessment centre style practices when I was there, I also know more about how the scheme works having worked with people who have passed the scheme.

I lived with another 4 placement students, we all got on well together and it was a nice group to socialise with. There was also work socials, one just after I'd first joined, Christmas, Easter and one just before I left.

I worked in Newport but lived in Cardiff. Cardiff was very good for shopping with a good range of prices.

I worked in Newport, but lived in Cardiff. Cardiff had a good nightlife, but we left alot of it unexplored as there were lots of week nights events, but we needed to be asleep.

There was the sports and social society associated with ONS. I met up with some people from Cardiff University also.