Treasury & Structured Finance Undergraduate Review

The placement itself was absolutely fantastic. I was given plenty of responsibility, which made me feel like I was definitely a valued and trusted employee. There were a lot of opportunities for networking and professional development, which made it easy to make the most of the placement year! The only downfall was the location, I found it tough coming from a busy student city and settling into sleepy suburban area.

The majority of the employees are very approachable and receptive, making it easy to explore different departments and even take on extra responsibility. I was able to branch out outside of my daily tasks and add value to the department as a whole. I felt greatly appreciated and recognised for my efforts.

My manager was very helpful and involved in my professional and personal development. We had one-to-one meetings at least once a week which made it easy to express any concerns. She was more than supportive of me attending various workshops and did everything she could to accommodate any learning needs.

When I became comfortable and efficient enough in my daily/monthly tasks, I did find myself struggling to find stuff to do. However after a sit-down with my manager I was able to add extra responsibilities to my role. I was able to explore other areas of finance and even different departments of the business.

The role itself gave you a tremendous amount of responsibility, I was actually surprised that this role was trusted to an undergraduate. Every day I was dealing with substantial amounts of money and interacting with senior management such as Board Members and Heads of Finance. Although initially I was very intimidated, the experience ended up being very rewarding.

Since I don't study Finance directly, I don't think most of the skills I've developed this year will help my studies. However this placement has finally helped to decide on my career path. It has definitely developed my confidence and interpersonal skills which will help me succeed in any role I end up in.

It never felt like a burden coming into work, the atmosphere felt relaxing enough to have a laugh but still get stuff done.

The placement was organised well. Inductions were definitely informative and useful. We also had monthly skills sessions ran by the HR department which tackled worthwhile subjects such as interviews/CVs, time management and teamwork. The only downfall for me was getting told that we were all going to have an undergraduate project to work on, which didn't actually happen at the end.

There were plenty of opportunities to work on your personal development. Apart from all of the undergraduate skill sessions, the business also runs Licence2 Workshops. I personally attended the Powerful Presentations and Making an Impact workshops which were ran by external companies that specialised in training and development. They absolutely brilliant!

Throughout my time at the company I was able to network with people that have been with the company for years. It did really make me realise that there are endless opportunities to move around the business. Learning about the career paths of some of the senior management at the Learning at Work week, made it clear that it is possible to work your way up the company hierarchy.

We had a great bunch of undergraduates in our year, which made the placement a lot more enjoyable. However there isn't a great deal to do in Milton Keynes, which meant that most of the undergraduates ended up going home during weekends.

Cost of living was ok. It was more expensive than living in the North, but the salary stretched far enough to give me a comfortable year.

There was only one club in the area when I first joined the business. Although it's a lot of fun, there is a limit to how many weekends in a row you can go to the same place.

One of the biggest highlights of my year has to be the treasure hunt. It’s a yearly event where we all get together at the pub, walk around a trail of clues to find answers to a set of questions and finish off with a pint of beer and a steak pie. It was a fun way to network with people across all levels.