Trainee Business Analyst Review

The work I did was varied and exciting, with real responsibilities from really early on.

I felt like a valued member of the team from very early on. In meetings people would often ask my opinion, and my input was always taken seriously by others.

The culture was friendly and very supportive. There were a number of people I knew I could go to for guidance, and they would always be happy to spend time helping me.

The workload within different projects was varied, but whenever the workload was too much, I knew that I could ask for help, then if it was too little I had self guided training I could complete to make use of the time.

From quite early on I was given responsibilities over important aspects of the projects I was working on. Knowing that I had people around me to give guidance and support though meant that this wasn't too intimidating.

I have already used a number of the skills I learned over my placement since I left, and the analytical mindset that I developed through the Business Analyst work has made me better at working on projects and in teams.

There were a number of social activities to take part in, such as a curry club, football tournaments and other social events. Although most of these were within my department, I also got to know the other people on placement really well, and we would regularly get together in the evenings or at weekends.

I honestly cannot think of any way the placement could have been better set up. I had intensive training in the first few weeks, which slowly transitioned into work. As my workload increased I could always depend on my buddy or line manager to help me out, but we were encouraged to try things for ourselves, which I found invaluable as it let me learn from my mistakes.

I recieved formal training which covered almost all of the business activites of TJX, and in depth job related training during the first few months of my placement. I really appreciated the time they spent teaching us about the entire business, instead of just giving us the training we needed to do our jobs.

There are fast track programs available for placement students who graduate from University and want to return, but a job is not guaranteed after the placement year is complete.

Before we started the placement we were all put into a Facebook group, which really helped in getting to know everyone a bit before starting work with them, and for arranging where we would live. We all split into houses across Watford, and I spent a lot of time outside of work with the other placement students and some of the graduates as well.

London prices

The nightlife in Watford itself was pretty average, but we were so close to London that it was always a good option for a night out.

There were a lot of activities run outside of work within my department, and across the company. We also organized activities amongst ourselves as placement students.