Virtual Experience Review

I did enjoy the virtual experience quite a lot. It introduced me to the many different facets of the company such as the banking sector, the tax sector and the auditing sector. I was able to learn more about each of the jobs and exactly what they did in each sector as I did not really know much about this before. Furthermore, it allowed me to focus on a wide variety of things and this meant that it never got too boring.

I did not feel very valued during my time at the company. This is because it was a virtual learning experience rather than a virtual work placement. As such, I would learn about the different tasks they would complete there and we would work in groups along with other students on the placement to complete different tasks. Therefore I did not feel valued by the company but this was not expected of a learning experience at the company.

I received a lot of guidance and support during the virtual experience. I was walked through the many different tasks I had to do and provided with many examples to help me learn properly. Furthermore, they had a system in place in which I was able to ask questions and make enquiries about the work we did during the sessions and this was extremely helpful for me to make sure all my concerns were adressed by them.

I developed many different skills during my time on the virtual experience in a wide variety of skills. Working in auditing helped to improve my analytical skills through looking at documents to verify previously given statements. Furthermore, working in tax helped to increase my mathematical knowledge. Most importantly, these sectors were quite closely linked so the skills were transferable to these will be extremely helpful to me in the future if I decide to pursue a job in one of these sectors.

I think that the virtual experience was quite well-structured. There was a set of compulsory sessions we had to attend from a variety of fields and there were also optional sessions we could attend if we wanted to go deeper into a certain field or topic. These optional sessions also helped me to learn about the company as a whole and things such as company culture and the values they uphold at the company which was a nice addition.

Generally, the atmosphere was quite friendly during the sessions, eventhough it was virtual. Also, working with the other placement students was quite fun and they were all really friendly which allowed me to get on with them well and this enabled us to work productively and produce work which we were proud of. Our final project in particular came together very well despite us not being physically together and this is because of the great communication allowed by the friendly environment.

In terms of personal training and development, I think that the company did invest quite a lot in me. They taught me about a lot of different sectors and this will definitely help me in the future, I feel. Furthermore, the knowledge they gave us was very specialised and suited towards the jobs at the companies; I would be unable to get this knowledge from studying about the fields or reading about them and I think this really set the experience as something special for me.

I think the virtual experience did do quite a good job to help me to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company. Firstly, I got to learn about the sectors and I got to experience some of the tasks I would be doing. I got to experience this for a wide variety of different sectors in the company so it did help me to understand what it would be like to have a job there.

I think that the virtual experience did help me in understanding the company culture. There were optional sessions to attend during the virtual experience and one of the initial ones focussed on company culture and the key values they worked by. By attending this session, I was able to briefly learn about the key values they work by and through my other sessions, I was able to see all of these values being put into action and being referenced by those who led the session.

The content of the experience was quite helpful in helping to decide a future career path. It not only introduced me to a wide variety of different sectors within the financial world but it also gave me a taste of each one and allowed me to see the different jobs and tasks I would be doing if I decided to pursue each of them. Therefore, the experience helped me to learn about the different sectors I might pursue and sparked my interest in tax.

It was a virtual online learning experience so neither of these were required.

There were opportunities for networking and meeting employees of the company. In particular, there were a few sessions where company employees would come and talk about their experiences at the company and how they got to be where they are currently. I was able to send in questions for them to address any of my queries. These sessions helped me to meet different employees and see the different paths they took to get to the company.

The optional sessions that allowed me to essentially meet and learn from employees were really helpful, I feel. They allowed me to learn about the different paths into the world of finance and what I could be doing currently at university to help strengthen by application for jobs in the following year. It was also quite interesting to learn more about the company from someone who works there and learning their honest opinion of how it is.

I did not really learn much about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work. However, I did find out that the company encourages employees to take up leisure activities such as yoga and various other fitness activities.

I would definitely recommend this experience to someone who is interested in working in finance in the future. This job introduces you to a wide variety of sectors within the field of finance so it prompts you to start thinking deeper about exactly what you want to pursue in the future, rather than just having a general desire to work in the field of finance. I would also say that this experience helps you learn more about how financial companies work.