Financial Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at Travelport, it was very eye-opening into the world of business in terms of the ups and downs a company can face.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues, they welcomed me into the team like I was a proper employee and didn't treat me like a kid.

My manager was very helpful whenever I had an issue. She would always provide me with assistance regardless of how busy she was, in order to help my development.

There are times in the year which are busy than others, for example the start of each month or the 3 months prior to Christmas for budgeting. Other times can be a bit quiet but there is still work to be done, all be it not all the time.

I was given a lot of responsibility almost immediately when I started. I was given a major part of the month end reporting to do, as well as controlling many of the monthly trackers and commercial packs we produce.

I feel that this placement has helped me no end. The skills you learn at Travelport are second to none, and being unique skills you will be hard pushed to find the same sort of reporting tasks to do at another placement. It has also helped me decide on which career path to follow once I graduate, and for that reason it has been the most helpful experience of all.

Within my team it was a very friendly environment, people would be chatting throughout the day and occasionally there would be times where you could stop and have a laugh at something. However, when work had to be done people took it seriously, which is a good balance to have as work obviously comes first.

Considering it was the first year of the programme starting it was organised well by the HR department, providing us with a strong structure to follow. We had bi-weekly 1-to-1s with our managers to monitor performance, and once every 6 weeks we had meetings with mentors, people outside our team to discuss anything we wanted, good or bad. We were also given opportunities to meet with other members of the company in departments we might not normally interact in, which helped with networking skills.

There were always offering courses for me to take to further my understanding of systems and programmes, as well as courses into helping develop mentally. These opportunities were invaluable as often you have to pay yourself to do such courses, whereas they were free through Travelport.

If there is a position available once I graduate I was told I would be in consideration which is excellent.

Within the office we all socialised regularly, as we worked in the same teams or teams which were linked. However due to the busy nature of the company, we weren't able to socialise as much outside of the office, although there were enough opportunities to have a laugh.

I was unfortunate in that I had to rent a place in West London in order to be able to commute, which cost a lot, but with the exception of rent it was no more expensive than any other location.

In the area surrounding the office nightlife wasn't great, as Slough isn't a very popular location. However there are a few good bars in Windsor which we would visit for after work drinks or night outs.

Travelport has its own social club which provides monthly activities for subsidised prices, which was very good to get involved in!