Trainee Business Analyst Review

Really good year, plenty of training, both job focused and personal development. Plus lots of responsibility and trust.

From day 1 my opinions were valued by my colleagues, plus they felt comfortable handing me work or involving me in theirs, as they knew I could add value and wasn't just a placement getting in the way!

My manager and I have weekly 1 to 1s to make sure that I am focusing on the right projects and I have the right balance to my week, including outside of work activities. Often she will push me to think ahead and plan more, and her guidance has helped me improve my professional work and even aspects of my personal life. We also have the opportunity to catch up with a buddy when ever we wanted to to talk about work or personal issues.

99% of the time I had something to do during my placement. There was a period between training and full work where I was transitioning from learning in a class room to learning on the job, but this was mainly so I could review everything I had learnt, and to make sure I wasn't overloaded with work immediately.

Yes, I wouldn't say I was running the show, but I definitely lead a lot of discussions and projects with support from my colleagues. I worked on a multitude of different projects for different areas including ecommerce, digital, internal communications help desk and more.

I learnt a lot about time and project management which are exceptionally useful in and out of work. I know this will be useful for my final year of university, helping me to balance my life and complete my workload to a standard I am happy with. This year has helped me be more assertive, setting a goal or milestone for myself and then completing it by working with others. This is going to be extremely helpful in group projects next year, and in future professional work.

Friendly, enthusiastic and professional. We all want to deliver and hit our goals and objectives, but no one wants to stand on others to get there, instead everyone is supportive and helps everyone in reaching their goals when they can.

The placement scheme is still very young here, but its has been implemented in a really good way. There is a fairly solid 2 week training block, then a 2 week transition to work, then 11 months of project work and continual learning and development. This means you aren't overwhelmed at the start, instead you are given knowledge, time to test it out, then a chance to get on with your work. There are also additional events such as the times graduate challenge and cross functional projects with other placements/graduates to help develop leadership skills.

Personal training and development is a huge part of the TJX culture. We covered everything from time management to six sigma, both in full training sessions and 1 to 1s.

The graduate scheme cover all of IT: Operations, Project Initiative, Project Management. This gives a graduate a really good view of the IT landscape, gives them the opportunity to choose what to pursue with their career, and ultimately the experience to become a future leader.

There are plenty of activities and socials to get involved with. Currently I play football once a week with other people from IT, hockey once a week against other companies from around Watford, and have a big lunch on a Friday with other people from IT. Other graduates and placements are often involved in these, but we also go out for nights out, trips into London, and generally whatever we want to do.

Watford isn't a student area so some prices like rent can be quite high. That being said you get all of the amenities of London with normal prices, so in that respect there is a nice balance.

There are plenty of bar and clubs to go out in. There is a lot of different between each bar and club as well, so on any night there should be something for everyone.

Yes, as I stated before there is plenty of sport and socialising.