Group Financial Controls Analyst Review

I enjoyed the internship as it gave me a well-rounded overview of the stream I am working in (Finance). I was given the opportunity to take on responsibilities which are similar to those taken on by some of the other team members, and I have learnt many soft skills such as communication and organisation. The office culture is enjoyable as the employees are generally open and helpful.

I do feel valued by my team as they give me responsibilities similar to theirs and are willing to entrust me with assisting them in their tasks. They are also willing to take the time to explain things to me when I have questions, and in general, treat me as an equal despite me being a summer placement student.

I was given support by the Graduate team through weekly emails with handy tips to help us throughout our summer placement. The Graduate team also organised socials and teambuilding events which was helpful in getting to know other summer placements, as well as skills training sessions such as Excel training which is used every day at work.

In my role, I was busier than summer placements in other streams as my team had a huge workload. However, I found it to be a reasonable amount and enjoyed being productive at work. I also improved my organisational skills due to my workload so it was a good balance overall.

The skills I got from this placement have helped develop myself as a person - for instance, the organisational skills and time management would help me find a good balance between studies and recreation, so it will help me do well in my degree studies. The communication skills I have obtained during my placement would be useful even beyond my degree studies and certainly in pursuing a career.

The summer placement was well structured overall, with a clear progression of training events at the beginning, mid-placement review and informational sessions throughout the placement, and a presentation and interviews in the last week to assess our performance. However there was room for improvement - the instructions for arriving in the office when starting the internship could have been sent out earlier and was quite vague. Certain events throughout the placement could have been better organised.

The company hosted events such as Development day for teambuilding and gave half a day's leave as allowance for undertaking charity initiatives, which was good for gaining experiences and teamwork. Summer placements were also permitted to arrange a learning visit to other sites of the company with expenses covered, which helped us understand the company better and improve our network.

It is appealing to get into the Graduate scheme and afterwards, have a career in the company as employees are encouraged to move around different roles to get a well-rounded understanding of the company and self-development. The culture in the office is also appealing as I enjoy how friendly and helpful the employees are around the office.

There was a good social scene amongst other summer placement students - this is because as part of the summer placement scheme, the students are provided accommodation in university halls. Thus, the atmosphere was very much like university since we were living with peers, and this allowed us to socialise and organise events easily.

As part of the summer placement scheme, students were put into groups for a charity project competition to raise money for Shelter. We were thus encouragaed and had the opportunity to organise fundraising events and volunteer in charity shops, which was a good experience. We were even allowed to take half a day off work to pursue these charity activities.