PMO Business Support Review

I have spent my placement year working in the Defence industry, within the PMO. Being able to work in this area has allowed me to have a full oversight of all projects and programmes that are taking place from small, 2/3 man projects to deals worth millions of pounds spanning many years. Because of this I have been able to gain complete exposure of the ways of working within Project & Programme Management, deal with a wide range of customers, understand in detail how a project is run, all the risks and issues that come with this and how best to mitigate them

From the start I was placed in quite a challenging role in the sense that it was my job to build and run the weekly and monthly reports for most projects, to be reviewed by the SLT. This made me feel valued as my colleagues had the faith in me to run with this, and exposed me to a wide breadth of networking potential as I was able to liaise directly with much more senior people which inevitably gave me a presence around the office and opened more doors into other work streams.

The team that I have predominantly worked within has been quite small which I believe has helped me within my placement as this means day to day you could be expected to take on a mixture of different tasks. This could seem quite daunting at first as you have to learn many different processes and operating tools quite early on, but my team and management have been incredibly supportive and easy to talk to whenever I have had any issues. Working within a smaller team, in my opinion, has allowed me to have a better 'direct' relationship with my manager who has always been helpful whenever I have required assistance

My role contained a variety of core and adhoc work. The core work surrounded many project/business reviews and building reports and business packs to be reviewed by the business. As this data analyses the previous months work, the first 2/3 weeks of every month were busy as this is predominantly when the reviews would take place and so I would have to do all the background work for these. The last week seems to be quieter, but this can always depend on how much 'adhoc' work there is to do

I was given a lot of responsibility, and my colleagues/managers were always willing to show me new things and give me further responsibility if I felt comfortable taking it on. All tasks that I was given at the beginning I now solely own with no guidance, and I have taken on, and been involved in many further tasks in between

The skills will greatly help my degree as my work was predominantly analytical and data manipulation. I also had the opportunity to do some presenting which has increased my confidence in the workplace, and understanding how a project works from end to end has given me a greater insight into business and industrial functions which, as my degree is business & finance based, will help me greatly with my studies.

The general atmosphere in the office is relaxed. At busy times you are expected to knuckle down and, in some cases stay on a little later to ensure something is complete, but this is rare and you are given the time back as holiday etc. You are expected to work hard, but there is no stopping you having coffee breaks with colleagues throughout the day and having chats with colleagues to understand their roles better as Fujitsu appreciate you need to unwind every now and again. They also heavily support CSR activities which you are given time out of your working day to contribute towards such as working in local schools, helping on community projects etc

The work placement, and my day to day role has been really well organised, and I have always been kept in the loop with new opportunities that I can get involved in. The only thing that could be improved would be to do more as a GAP community (grads, apprentice, placement). There is one specific to my office, of which the community is good for networking with colleagues in a similar position to you, but as for other placement students, we have only been brought together 4/5 times this year and so it would be nicer to maybe work closer together

I have felt heavily invested in during my time. Any training that I have requested or that they have felt would be beneficial has been happily funded, and many colleagues, within my team and within the wider community, have always been more than happy to give up their time to listen to anything that I have had questions on and offer any advice. Fujitsu is a really friendly community to work within which has made it a lot easier to develop

Future employment prospects are good, and the grad scheme that is offered will give you further exposure to business areas of your choice, as you are able to select 4 areas of the business that you are most interested in on a 6 month rotation. From being here on placement, if I was to apply for the grad scheme you automatically skip all prior interviews and are forwarded straight to an assessment centre

The GAP community aimed to get everyone socialising at least once every couple of months, and at Christmas you are given an allowance to spend as a community to let your hair down. Even though we have tried to arrange many events such as wine tours or go karting, this usually ends up just being a night out in one of the local towns