Finance Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my work placement year with Siemens and have been lucky to be able to work with lovely people who made me feel welcome from the beginning and throughout. I have completed a year with Siemens in the Finance department completing a variety of tasks and processes.

At the beginning of the placement I was apprehensive to be joining a team of people and being the new person in the office. After meeting the team I was quickly welcomed and was given many tasks that challenged me to improve my understanding and gain experience throughout the year.

My manager and supervisor were always around to give me support and guidance, both through any problems I may have been having with the work I was challenged with and also for example preparing for when my tutor came to visit. They were especially friendly and put me at ease.

At the start of each month, this was the busiest time, with reconciling and posting journals into the accounts before the closed. After completing each month end I would be slightly less busy with some days just asking my manager for any extra work that I could complete for them.

During my placement I was given lots of responsibility, more so after the first few months where I gained understanding and experience. During month end was the time I had the most experience, reconciling the accounts and posting journals and also when I travelled to the off site storage locations.

The skills I developed throughout the year at Siemens will hopefully assist me in my final year at University as I have been able to put the work into practice and will have my own experiences to look back on. Not only has this year benefited my for my degree, but also I have gained valuable personal skills in regards to independence and confidence.

Siemens had set up a development program for all Interns and Placement students from all over the country. For this program, we had 4 different activities, for example, presentation skills, influencing skills and general confidence tips. These were very helpful and allowed me to gain skills throughout the year that I could use during my placement and also afterwards.

With Siemens there is a graduate scheme available, although to be a candidate for these roles you must apply separately and no jobs are just given to you after your placement year. The graduate scheme sounds very intriguing and I am interested in taking part in this after I have finished next year.

At the site I was working at for Siemens, there were approx. 20 placement students, and we all made an effort to go out and made friends with each other. It was also possible to get to know each other through the training sessions we had four times in the year.

The cost of accommodation is fairly expensive in this area although food etc is just an average price. Driving in Lincoln is not the easiest with there being lots of traffic and road works all around the area. Everything in Lincoln is very central including bus and train stations and restaurants and bars up and down the hill.

The nightlife in Lincoln was good, although this was because I am friends with students there. Many of the nights you must be a student at Lincoln University so therefore it would make it a bit difficult if you don’t know anyone who is at Uni there. There is enough to do and all close together.