Finance Placement Student Review
by Caterpillar
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
2.5
-
The Company
2.5
-
The Culture
2.5
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I enjoyed my work placement very much, there were tough times at the beginning as with any placement I'm sure, but you get through and get used to everything.
Quite valued, the placements were allowed to get involved and give their opinions in the team meetings. We also had to complete employee questionnaires where we gave feedback on our workplace and our managers.
We were given lots of support, I know if I was ever not sure of how to do something, I could ask my manager. We had weekly one on one meetings with our manager to go over what work we were completing and any issues we had.
Most days very busy, especially around month end. Although towards the end of placement, we weren't as busy because our work had been outsourced to Belfast, therefore we were mainly working on process improvement.
Quite a lot of responsibility, we had proper job roles where we had work to complete for a specific time. We weren't just doing admin work.
I think working on placement gives you a real eye opener to what the real world is like, I have developed my interpersonal skills, which I can transfer over to my degree and just in general life. I have become a lot more confident, and also think I am a lot more self-confident. You are constantly having to meet deadlines, and prioritise your work, this puts you in good position for final year as you make sure you meet deadlines and even do the work in advance. I've noticed even in the first few weeks I am working a lot harder and constantly doing reading and extra work outside of the lectures, which I didn't do so much of in first and second year.
The Company
Good atmosphere, everyone was very friendly.
Quite organised for the placements in my team, when I first started we had set job roles, although after the outsourcing of our teams work, we didn't really have as specific job roles as previously.
We had lunch and learn presentations approximately every month where we were shown a new business area by an employee that worked in that business area.
Above 25 days holiday
I think overall Caterpillar is a good employer and can offer chances to work your way up in the company.
The Culture
Yes, there was 5 finance placements as well as 5 electrical engineers and 5 IT placements. We all went out and spent time together.
Cost of living in Peterborough didn't seem any more expensive than Manchester really.
It was average, although we went out in Stamford as well as Peterborough which was good.
Yes, I was part of the social committee for the finance department and we arranged events once a month.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
Accounting
South East
October 2014
