Business Analyst Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement despite the fact that I did not know what to expect from work in Finance. I was given a real job which was really important to me as I did not want to spend a year making coffee for my colleagues. I have greatly developed my knowledge of accounting and I will definitely consider a career in industry.

I was working in a very friendly and professional team. There were always people ready to help. My colleagues were not "secret" about their knowledge and generally were happy to share it and tell more about the company. Moreover, most of our customers were nice and understanding people too. We also had a lot of social team events like charity work, team lunches, Christmas party and night-outs.

Before starting to work (placements) had a week training course so by the time I met my manager I already knew quite a lot about the company. I had two supervisors over the year but both of them were nice people. They taught me a lot of things which I think will be very useful in my future career. I had weekly meeting with them where I was able to discuss any issues that had, ask general questions about the company or suggest the ways to improve things.

My working hours from 8.30 till 16.45 Mon-Tue and from 8.30-16.15 on Fridays. I was free Sat and Sun. I had a list of standard tasks for each day of the month plus I had to do ad-hoc work. Depending on the amount of ad-hoc work a day can very busy (I did overtime a few times) or relatively easy (no surprises - standard work). Very rarely I had days when I had nothing to do but even in this case I was asking people around if they need any help and still was doing something.

In my first 6 months I was mainly doing standard tasks. However, my knowledge of the business has developed quite fast (it does not just happen - you need to ask A LOT OF questions) and my supervisor started to give me special assignments which are then were used in preparation of reports for first line managers. By the end of my placement I even started to receive tasks from our finance director - this stuff was really important.

I guess some of the skills will be applicable in my final year, but you don't have to forget that book knowledge and "applied" knowledge (one that you receive on the job) are two different things. Nevertheless, when I was reading my management accounting textbook this morning I have realized that a lot of stuff makes more sense know. Soft skills that I have further developed (time-management, prioritizing, communication) are definitely skills for life.

I would not call it fun but it was not dull either, People were concentrated on their work. Of course jokes were allowed but there was not too much of it in our office. To be honest that is what I prefer: work is work, and free time is your free time.

As I mentioned earlier placement students received one-week training before starting the work. We were introduced to the company (history, trends, what company is doing now), learned about engine production, did product appreciation training (assemble and dissemble 6-cylinder diesel engine), received safety and object lifting training etc). Also what was really helpful is that old placement students stayed for another month to do a hand-over (teach new placements their roles). So overall it was very well organised and I did not feel lost.

During the year there were quite a lot of training and seminars organised by the company, Ones that I can remember and found the most useful for myself are: Income Recognition, Information Security, Anti-bribery, Investment Appraisal. All of the courses were free. I also had an opportunity to do Gallup strengths-finder test which company also has paid for. This is quite a useful test which helps to understand what are you strengths and how to develop them and which job area to consider.

Currently there is no grad scheme in my area. However, things change and maybe one day It will be introduced. If so I would probably apply for it.

The atmosphere in the office was very friendly and I really considered my colleagues as friends. There was another placement student in my team and we were sitting next to each other and also lived in the same area, so there was always an opportunity to talk about not-work related stuff which is good. Some other placement students were living together in shared-houses.

I think that I had a decent salary and was even able to fly home couple of times. I lived in a shared house £300 p/m, Food was around £120-170 p/m, bus travel to work and around town £50 p/m, Gym £35 and other stuff like clothes, trips to London, restaurants. So I would say that it was quite a cheap year for me.

I know that there are a few clubs in the city I worked in, but I am not really a club-goer so I can't tell much about it. Other people who did go out seemed quite happy though. Anyway, when you live in east midlands you don't have a problem of "bad" nightlife - you can always go to London, Nottingham, Birmingham, book a travellodge and party all night.

Yes, there was a rowing club, plenty of gyms, cross-fit gym, swimming pools, ice hockey facility, climbing station etc. So yes...