Forensic Assistant - Placement Review

I have really enjoyed my placement here. The team I have been working in have made my time at S&W very enjoyable and memorable and I am very grateful for the experiences I gave gained here.

I have felt very welcomed and valued by most of the team, the nature of work means you work closely with some colleagues more than others, to these colleagues I feel valued and my work is appreciated.

Managers have always answered any questions I have had quickly and happily. I have always felt comfortable and able to talk to anyone within the team for help and I have always felt that everyone is willing to help junior staff

The nature of the work means that there can be fluctuations in workload but there has always been something to do. Some days can be busier than others when working close to deadlines but these are not constant and the majority of days the work balance is really good.

I have had responsibility for my own tasks as I have become more experienced. But I have felt happy with the level of responsibility throughout, as a placement student work will not be sent directly to the client without being reviewed, but I feel this is appropriate at this level of competence

As an Accounting and Finance student, I feel the work I have done here will really help me to understand some of the theoretical concepts in my degree. It has helped me to see the more practical side and the broader applications of accounting basics. I hope that the mind set and work ethic I have gained will help me in the final year of my degree.

The atmosphere in the office was generally quite fun and friendly, towards deadline it could be more serious and quiet, but for the most part everyone was always happy and looking to make sure as a placement student, you are encouraged. The open plan layout of the office meant Partners and Directors are sat with the rest of the team, this made it feel very welcoming and also easy to go directly to senior colleagues if necessary.

As a placement student I was integrated into the Forensics Department as if I was any other member of staff, this was nice as I was able to settle straight in. I was given work straight away and learnt a lot during my first few weeks through the cases I was working on with the help of Managers. I have had regular contact from Managers in HR that has helped me to not feel forgotten about with meetings to ensure I was getting on okay.

I have had conversations with Graduate Trainees about their roles as graduates, HR have helped me to connect with these colleagues and given me the information and advice I need should I want to come back into a graduate position. I have had regular meetings with my Line Manager about my progress, these were good to ensure I could share my opinions and we could make sure I was getting all that I could from my placement year.

Very appealing. There is opportunity to apply for a graduate role within other departments upon graduation, from speaking to current Graduates in other departments, it seems that the roles are very good, allowing you to study towards a qualification while gaining on the job experience. There are also opportunities for secondments within other departments and offices and job progression seems fairly good.

The department was very social, with regular department drinks for example at year end, Christmas, for birthdays etc, as well as more casual weekly drinks or lunches. This made it very easy to get to know other colleagues and allows you to be as involved as you would like to be. There are socials for graduates and interns when they join and also throughout the year which allow them to socialise outside of the office.

A placement or internship or any job in London will incur greater costs than other areas, London is an expensive city, which is something to be considered, but you can live and socialise in London easily if you are aware/careful.

There are so many places in London to go, there are a lot of different places to go depending on what you want/how much you want to spend, but there is always something going on so you can never be bored. You can obviously very easily get to a lot of other places from London on trains and buses etc, so there is always somewhere to go or something to do.

There are department football teams and some departments have away days which allow you to get to know people in different environments. Also,being in London means there are lots of things you could get involved in outside of work.