Business Placement - Head Office Review

I worked in an operational role with an extremely supportive team and worked on some very exciting projects to do with flight training. The best part of the placement was being able to see how the work I did made a difference, and had a positive impact on how the company worked.

I was initially daunted working in an area about which I knew nothing and was dominated by technical jargon, but the team (and my manager in particular) were extremely supportive, especially at the beginning, in helping me to learn what I needed in order to fulfil the role.

The manager of the programme was very good at matching students with an appropriate placement, and if ever there was an issue it would be dealt with in an efficient and practical way.

There was always at least one project to be working on, and the autonomy I was given meant it was up to me to manage the peaks and troughs in the workload.

Most of the work I did was independent and had not been done before, meaning that I was responsible not only for doing the work, but also for working out what work needed to be done and how to do it. It was very satisfying to be able to take ownership of my work in this way.

I had the opportunity to develop most of the skills employers look for, and the environment is such that if you feel as though you are underdeveloped in an area, you can get the support and the work to improve that skill and gain the requisite experience.

It was a good working environment with good relationships from the senior managers all the way down to you as a placement student.

The system is such that departments bid for placement students, so you are never an imposition and you are a seen as a valued member of the team. This also means that it will always be a proper jobs with lots of work to do and at the right level.

There were three development days throughout the year just for placement students, and there were numerous other training courses which you could choose to do as well.

There is a large variety of graduate schemes available meaning that whichever aspect of the industry interests you, there is an appropriate role.

We arranged a number of events throughout the year, so even though as a group of placement students we were all working in different parts of the business, we built excellent relationships by the end.

Being outside central London meant living and commuting was less expensive than for a job in The City.

Being 20 minutes on a heavily discounted train from Paddington, there were plenty of Nightlife opportunities.

There were clubs, charity opportunities (through Flying Start) and, of course, industry discounted travel!