Finance Placement Review

Overall I did enjoy my placement year at Johnson & Johnson, I particularly enjoyed working with very approachable and caring colleagues who took a real interest in my own career development.

I felt very valued by my immediate team especially as I was frequently asked to get involved in organising team meetings and social events.

My manager was very supportive of my development, even when I had doubts about a career in finance. She instantly encouraged me to learn about other areas of the business via shadowing to see if any other sectors interested me.

From my experience, I would say that Johnson & Johnson has a great work-life balance, but I would say at my age I would like something slightly more fast past and time pressured.

I managed many projects on behalf of my manager so I felt I was given a good amount of responsibility as a placement.

I developed great Excel skills which I would never have learnt during my degree course and will certainly be invaluable in future work. Although this is not exactly a skill, I would say I matured whilst I was on placement. I recently started a summer internship at another firm and it was only then that I noticed how much more mature I act in a work environment compared to students of the same age but with no industrial experience.

I supported the EMEA team which sit in a separate office to the local UK team across the road. The EMEA office was typically quieter than the UK office so the atmosphere in comparison was not great.

Many of the placement activities were run by members of the UK local team which meant that the EMEA placements were often forgotten to be invited purely because many of the UK team were unaware that placements existed in the EMEA office. In the end, I had to ask my friends on placement in the UK team to forward me emails. More could be done to include all placements.

In the beginning, we had some introductory lessons on Excel as well as classes on J&J specific data sites. Although I would say you just pick up Excel as you use it and similar to the use of J&J systems; it really comes with experience. Throughout the year there were many online trainings to complete which covered the basics of accounting. I do believe as a finance placement more could be done to develop accounting knowledge, as learning through online tests is not the most engaging way to learn. Perhaps holding monthly classes to cover some basic accounting concepts would help tackle this?

I could see myself returning to Johnson & Johnson as the company culture was super friendly and I particularly like that the firm really encourages their employees to work in different areas of the business to broaden their knowledge of the company and its operations.

There are enough placements to create a good group of friends with similar interests. I lived away from home for the year, like most other placements, so spent many weekends with mates I made through work.

Maidenhead was very expensive to live and since there is not much to do in the town I always had to venture out to either Reading, London or Windsor to do any socialising which meant paying for travel everytime I went out! It is a stunning area though and neighbours many iconic places.

The nightlife in Maidenhead is not great, but you are only a short train away from Reading, London and Windsor which are all good places for a drink and a night out.

If you are interested in taking part in a sport outside of the office then I am sure there would be a local sports team that you could join, for example, I joined Maidenhead's athletics club on my own accord. But if you are keen to get involved in activities outside of office hours but with colleagues then J&J in Maidenhead has a lot to offer: touch rugby, football, cricket and netball! Also, if you want to introduce a new sport then the company are more than happy for you to do so.