Operations and Services Business Analyst Review

I enjoyed the placement very much as it was very varied yet challenging, it has taught me many skills which will help for my final year and beyond.

I felt valued as I felt I contributed a lot to the company and was given a good amount of responsibility, I felt that my colleagues could rely on me and would ask for me for things that I produced.

Had lots of training and a handover schedule with my predecessor, and a helpful and patient manager. I was assigned a mentor whom I would meet every month to see how I was doing/progressing, and had lots of one to one meetings. It would have been nice if I had more formal reviews of my progress as most of it was informal, however I understand as it is a busy department.

I had many reports and deadlines to meet which kept me busy most of the day, some days I would have lots of work to complete under a certain time. I could always delegate some tasks to others in order to speed things up and had good support in that sense.

I was given lots of responsibility and was accountable for many areas of the reporting, much of the work I did went to director level which showed the responsibility I was given. There were some projects that I oversaw and reports which I created which has increased efficiency. I was given access to critical systems and sensitive data.

The theory that I had learnt in my degree was being practised in front of me on a daily basis which helped facilitate the understanding that I had, I gained a lot of experience in a workplace and corporate environment and learnt a lot of software skills (Excel Master). I feel that the experience I have gained in seeing from a Microeconomic level will help me in understanding further theory and will boost my chances of getting future jobs.

There was a good atmosphere as everyone is friendly and relaxed yet busy. The demographic of my department was good as it was varied in culture and ages, and everyone had things in common.

The placement was organised very well with a full handover schedule involving director presentations, tours of the facilities etc.

There were lots of training events scheduled however these were scheduled rather late as a lot I had already learnt on the job.

There are very few number of undergrads that are offered grad jobs during placement, and it would be good if there was some sort of benchmark that students could work to in order to secure one. However a lot of employees are past undergraduates so applying after graduation will always be a bonus.

There are around 80 students and more apprentices and everyone pretty much knows each other. There is a good social scene with colleagues etc, if you like football/sports you will fit in perfectly as everyone loves that here. There are lots of meet ups etc organised.

I commuted from London which cost me around £13 a day return, which is not bad. The area around Vauxhall is generally a cheap area for food etc so cost should not be high.

No idea about Luton, but good links to London which helps!

There are lots of opportunities organised, from football matches organised weekly by employees to game tournaments. However some of the activites organised by the company dont seem to be that great and not interesting, but overall there are lots of opportunities to network.