Finance Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my placement year. I learned a lot during the year and also gained a sense of independence, which you don't really get at university. My team were lovely and very supportive, and I am going to be sad to leave. I would reccomend this to anyone interested in Finance.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. I have been told many times that they forget that I'm a Placement Student, and that they treat me like a full time employee. My colleagues are very helpful and will answer any questions that I may have. On the flip side, they're also not afraid to ask me any questions - which shows that they value my knowledge and experience.

My manager was very supportive, and heloed me settle into the business very quickly. He made sure that I was set up on all of the systems, and that I had all of the equipment that I needed. He;s always able to spend time to go through things with me, and has also gone through things which aren't relevant to my role, but that he thought would be useful for me to know.

My role is a reporting based role, and so we have to follow monthly reporting deadlines. Typically, we are very busy for the first 2 weeks after a month close, but it can die down after this, if you haven't got any projects to be working on. I've found that there's always something to be doing, even if it's helping out another team.

I was given a very large amount of responsibility during my placement. I was given reports to create, and to run - and these were completely my responsibility. I was the one in the team who knew the most about the reports, so I was often asked questions about them. I was ultimately responsible for ensuring that it was completed on time and that it was correct.

I'm yet to go back to university, so it remains to be seen about the skills that I've developed. My skills using excel have definitely improved, and I'm sure that I'll use these in whatever role I go into in the future. I also think that my social qualities have improved. Being able to articulate yourself properly, when describing very technical issues is a skill which I have developed, and I am certain that I will use this in the future.

The atmosphere in the office was very pleasant. People are more than happy to have a chat, and the managers are happy for employees to converse in the office. We often have social events outside of work, which means that in the office we all get on very well, and know each other pretty well. There are a lot of events in work that create a good atmosphere (sweepstakes, charity walks, team lunches).

The company invested a lot of money and time into me and my fellow placement students. We had a lot of training sessions in the first few weeks - many from external companies, which were designed to develop our skills. Throughout the year I have also been on a number of training sessions - notably a training which helped us to manage our work and energy effectively, and highlighted the importance of a work-life balance. This was hosted externally.

The future employment prospects are very appealing. The graduate schemes are very well organised, and are designed to maximise the learning of the graduates. You will do a number of rotations, in different countries, in order to maximise your skills, and expand your network. You are also sponsored to do professional qualifications, if this is what you wish.

There was a very good social scene with the other placement students. I can safetly say that I have made life-long friends within my placement group. We have done a number of cool events together - we've been on holiday together, went to the races together, have been to watch rugby and football together and we have plans to travel with each other after our placement ends. These are just a few of the things that we have done together.

There were a lot of opportunities to get invoved with activities outside of work. I have represented J&J at Cricket, and have taken part in lots of Charity events. One of the notable charity events that we did was a charity bike ride. All of the placement students from offices around the country came together to organise an event, which raised a huge amount of money for charity. This was well supported by J&J.