Business Analyst Review

The placement with Lilly was really enjoyable because of the opportunities that were given to me throughout the placement

This could go up and down depending on the project you was working on, At the start my placement was quite slow and I couldn't see much value in the work I was completing but as I got more experience I was given more responsibility.

My manager was a really down to earth and supportive person, This is similar for most of the student supervisor/managers. He really helped me to develop and generate opportunities in business areas I was interested in.

This could be up and down again because of the work being project based and often relied on other people to complete stages before moving on. Some days I would have a session on eBay, Facebook etc and other days I would be swamped and staying a little later to get stuff completed.

On one project I was given the opportunity to attend and present alone at multiple meetings across the UK. This was left in my own hands to prepare the slides, organise the time/location and transport/accomodations. Obviously expenses were paid though.

My soft skills have really developed, not so much my technical one. Lilly outsources the majority of the technical work so this role is more business based.

In my initial role the atmosphere was quite quiet and I didnt enjoy it that much, I worked in another role which sat me in a different department and it was more lively and sociable. This really depends on the team you work for and the current work being completed.

Lilly organised a Familiarisation day for me to attend in April before my placement started so that I could meet all the students I was going to be working with that Year. This really helped me with making new friends and also organising a house to live in and people to share it with.

I didnt receive any personal training or qualifications during my placement.

The company employ 1-2 graduates each year and only recruit from the students that have previously completed a placement year. Obviously that is quite good odds compared to applying for a graduate job in a company that has 1000's of applications. Work hard and if you stick out from the rest then you have a good chance of getting employed after. We have to wait till Feb to find out if we have been employed as a graduate or not.

Plenty of students, nights out, pub crawls etc. Very sociable, it just takes one student from the group to step up and organise it. Fortunately that was me :)

I managed to find a room on SpareRoom.co.uk for £250 a month including bills, thats £150 a month cheaper than I'm paying during my final year.

Basingstoke was okay but your better off getting the train/minibus into Reading for a good night out.

Some teams organised social events like Go-Karting, cinema trips etc. Obviously there is the students to organise stuff with too.