Business Intelligence Analyst Review

I enjoy my placement very much. Long story short, I work as a business Intelligence Analyst at Vauxhall Motors and this role combines both the field of computing and business, which develop a set of programming and business skills that greatly enhance my CV. Moreover, my role allows me to exercise and experiment if I fit into this role.

Throughout the year while working in Vauxhall Motors, I have been given minimum supervision from my manager. Meaning, I spend most of my time at work by myself, despite being in a team. This is because I work as a student and the others work on high-level tasks which cannot involve me. However, they tend to reach out to me for manageable tasks which exercise my skills and involving me. Therefore, I feel valued.

While working in Vauxhall Motors, my manager has given me minimum supervisions, which allows me to have plenty of free time. However, before the rest of the year, there are handover weeks to which training sessions and other workshops are arranged to get you equipped and prepared for the forthcoming tasks. And honestly, the sessions are helpful and easy to learn that I believe they are sufficient despite a short period of time.

Working as a business intelligence analyst, I manage huge amount of data to which I have to make use of technical tools for data extraction and data manipulation, which ultimately aims to filter/remove the appropriate data, then generate ad-hoc reports to help support teams. As the data come in on a daily basis, as well as the number of teams to support, I do get very busy.

Vauxhall Motors is one of the companies that hire a large number of undergraduate students, one of many reasons they do this is to help managers reduce their daily tasks. As clients/data come in everyday, we must ensure we manage the tasks in a professional and timely manner. In short, there are great responsibilities given in this placement, to which you must be prepared to endure pressures.

Vauxhall Motors is one of the companies that heavily exercise Information Technology. As they employ students like me, they aim to provide as many training or workshop sessions to help develop us the necessary IT skills to help increase work efficiency. One of the examples on me would be the use of programming language, Vauxhall has taught me to the use of VBA (Visual Basic Application) from scratch.

In Vauxhall Motors, I work in the Technology Center. This building has large windows which keeps the office bright. In terms of layout, there are no walls that separate workers. Meaning, unless you are a high level manager/director, all colleagues can interact freely. One of the main reasons they do this is because they make teams sit together, allowing easy communication.

This organisation is very well organised. Main reason I claim is based on the assessment centres they arranged for us. In short, they have provided us a relaxing environment to express freely during interviews, they have given candidates breaks for current undergraduates to come in and interact, as well as providing sufficient support and guidance in the exercises.

In terms of personal training and development, the company has invested a lot in me. Since the assessment center, they have provided us guidance and exercises to allocate to the appropriate roles and boost our skills. Then, they would arrange lots of training and workshop sessions to develop our presentation and programming skills. Aside from work, they would also organise tours to show us the history and vehicles they have produced as well as getting involved in their festivals/events.

In terms of future employment, I'd say they are very appealing. This is because Vauxhall Motors has graduate schemes, and they are opened only towards internal employees. Therefore, placement students like me are eligible to apply, which greatly reduce the number of competitive candidates wanting to work in this company.

Yes, indeed there were good social scenes amongst fellow placement students/colleagues. Vauxhall Motors employ up to approx 80 placement students per year, to which around 15 (roughly speaking) are in the IT department. While working there, we tend to get together whenever we can, help each other out and make use of one another's strengths. This help accomplishing tasks in a professional manner.

Vauxhall Motors is based in Luton, Bedfordshire. Honestly speaking, I would say this area is considered an industrial area, to which you cannot expect many shopping areas and restaurants. However, the price tend to be rather cheap and affordable if you live as a group. Otherwise, there are student accommodations available which are relatively cheaper among others.

The Nightlife in Luton tend to be rather noisy. One of the main clubs people would go to is called Yates. This is based in the city centre. If you happen to live near there, I'd say the area would be quite noisy with the music and the people coming in and out of clubs.

Of course! Vauxhall Motors exercise heavily on the use of technologies. And, as they employ a high number of students, they must provide sufficient training/opportunities to help keeping us up to their working standards. Other than that, they would organise programs or events and involve us students, which gives us a different perspective into the company.