Finance Intern Review

From day one I loved working at my placement. The work was challenging at times but extremely relevant to my course, both allowing me to utilise my skills and applying theory learned at University into the real world.

The workplace environment was superb. There was a friendly atmosphere and everyone was there to help I was stuck with a particular problem. The work I did supported my colleagues as they used this data for their work so my work was valued.

I was sat next to both my finance supervisor and the finance controller for the site meaning if I ever had a query I could simply ask my manager to help me, which the gladly did. My supervisor encouraged me to take on more work which was relevant to my degree as she had graguated 3 years ago so knew what work was useful for me to do that would help me at University.

My role as finance intern was extremely busy at times due to the nature of month end where extra work had to be done on top of the usual workload. There was hardly ever a time where I was sat twiddling my thumbs as there was always work to be done so I asked for extra work if my work was quiet. I worked overtime most days as there were deadlines for most of my work.

I wsa surprised how much responsibility I was given from day one as an intern. One of my main wekly jobs was to produce the metrics for a report which our site leader uses to deliver our firm performance to our vice chairman for Aviation. The work I was given had direct impacts on the revenue and costs for the business.

My placement was a two way process. I was able to apply my skills that I had learned at University into my work, especially the theory. I was also able to see how a business uses accounting rather than learning form a textbook. I will be able to use these skills later on after I graduate and it will give me an advantage over my colleagues who did not opt to do a placement year,

The atmosphere at work was an enjoyable one. The office was open plan so I was able to easily mix with other departments. The finance team was very kind and everyone got on well and jokes. However, the finance team was extremely busy and everyone respected that each other had very busy periods and allowed them to get on with their work without interrupting them and offering support and advice.

My year at GE Aviation was the thrid year that the company had offered a placement so there was a pretty good set up of jobs and tasks for me. My supervisor had completed a placement with the company, as well as a graduate scheme so knew what sort of work was I could do and what jobs were best for me so gave me tasks that really benefited me.

The company gave me plenty of options to complete training. There was a company online training course which gave regular finance course and refresher courses. I also attended two or three training days showing best practise for different taks which I found extremely useful.

The company offeres a Finance Management graduate scheme which I will be applying for as I really enjoyed my time as an intern and would love to come back as a graduate.

There were 11 interns at the company, spread over different departments and everyone got on well together. We often met up after work or at weekends to either hang out at each others houses or go to the cinema or go on nights out.

Living in Cheltenham was quite expensive as it is quite an uppper class area. The area was extremely nice and living opposite a huge food court was very convenient.

The night life in Cheltenham was decent, there were plenty of pubs to go to but only about 3 or 4 night clubs that were worth going to. Some places were expensive, paying £4.00 per pint whereas others were very cheap paying 50p a shot.

GE Aviation had an very good social side, organising many events for it's employees to socialise outside of work such as meals out and events like bowling. There were also lots of opportunities to get involved in volunteering and I became a stem ambassador.