Finance Placement Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time working at Caterpillar Inc. I gained a lot of experience in a genuinely rewarding role with real responsibilities and great freedom to expand my work into areas that I found interesting and rewarding, there was a broad range of work and my manager was great in supporting my move to more complex and rewarding work as my placement progressed and my understanding increased.

I always felt I was a valued member of the team, with great colleagues and managers, however I do feel that I got the best role in the office and some other placements may not be so fortunate in their managers.

I had a weekly review with my manager, a quarterly review with the senior manager and I always felt free to discuss any issues I was having or ask for guidance at any time.

There was always work to do, but the pressure did vary, with month and year end being very busy while the middle of the month being much more relaxed.

I was given a great deal of responsilbity during my placement, far more than I expected, or the majority of my university peers recieved. If you can show that you take the work seriously and produce quality output you are given a great deal of freedom to deliever without micromangement and more challenging projects to work on.

Most of the skills I developed were in the course of my work, with little formal training outside of online corporate quizes, there are several complex concepts and softwares that I have mastered over the year in this manner, people in the office are always happy to support you when required so you're never stuck for very long.

Generally the office was very friendly, everyone is available to talk to and very approachable, with conversation and jokes going round the office all day, especially after hours. The only issue is the long hours some people have to work especially during month end means it’s difficult to find spare time if you need to talk to them.

I feel my placement was well organised, there was an induction day and then I had a month hand over from the previous placement, and throughout the year I received a great deal of support from my manager and team, who took some of my workload at the start and handed it back to me over the course of the year as I grew in compotence.

There was little formal training outside of software, but if you asked anyone (even quite senior) for them to take you through their work or for job shadowing they would be happy to oblige. They even arranged training to me to support me in my graduate interviews.

Caterpillar is a vast company and there is a pleathora of roles and locations, and they will offer support successful placements joining Caterpillar, however it seems that working at a Big 4 and then moving in as a manager is a better way to progress than working your way up from the bottom.

The other finance placements were good fun, though the average age in the office apart from us was quite high.

Despite it's proximity to London, Peterborough's large working class population has kept the cost of living down, at the price of an unpleasant town centre and poor public services.

No nightlife.

There were limitied opportunities but don't expect too much unless you ready to work for it.