Finance Analyst Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at Vauxhall. I have been able to develop many skills throughout my year including my communication and interpersonal ones. I have also been able to learn a lot about my field through this job and about how the finances of an organisations are interlinked. I have been able to get involved in areas outside my department and I feel that this has been invaluable in giving me a prespective of how various parts of a company operate.

I felt extrememly valued and welcomed by my colleagues. Throughout they have all been extremely helpful and understanding of the fact that I had not had a background in my field area. Being the youngest in my team by quite a bit I did not feel like I was treated differently and I was made to feel extremely welcomed by everyone. Overall I would say that my colleagues greatly attributed to my overall positive experience.

My manager was very supportive, giving me enough work without overloading me with work either. He had a great understanding of my capability and was able to push me to improve and helped me with areas that I struggled in.

On a daily basis I had enough work to keep me occupied but not so much that I felt overwhelmed. There were certain periods where I had more work, or if I had a project there would be deadlines I had to meet on top of my daily work load which meant I was busier, however, it was never more than I could handle. I was lucky to have people around me that would be able to help me if my workload got too much.

During my placement I was given a lot of responsibilty. I was given various projects which I would work on mainly individually and check in with my manager before submitting. My work was never doubted and the jobs I was given were necessary ones rather than ones to keep me busy. I felt that I was trusted and treated as an equal memeber of the team rather than simply as an undergraduate.

My job did not help with my university degree however I was able to learn a lot about the field area and was able to understand what area I would like to go into for my future career. The training sessions such as Excel ones were invaluable and I feel that these are the skills I would be able to take forward both into my studies and beyond.

My area of the office was generally very quiet throughout the month. As many people work part time there would be very quiet periods and others when everyone was in creating a great atmosphere for all.

The overall placement was very well organised. Having an undergraduate run the prorgramme made me feel at ease throughout the process. There was a lot of contact from the company leading up to the start of my palcement and they were great in organising handover events and helping in finding accomodation for the year.

The company had arranged for us to have a number of training courses that helped us develop key skills such as presenting and computer skills. I feel that they were great in ensuring we could develop skills further and providing many opportunities that I would not have had elsewhere.

As there is not a graduate scheme I feel that future employment prospects are not very appealing. In addition it seems that it would be difficult to progress throught the organisation as many people have been here for a long time and have an advatage in that sense.

There is a great social side to the placement. As there are so many undergraduates and most people live in the area there is always something going on. Many trips are organised between the undergraduates with people going out nearly every weekend so there is always something to do.

I have lived at home for the year as my parents live close to Luton so I have been lucky enough to be able to commute and save money. However, from going out at night in the area it seems that socialising is fairly cheap.

There is not a great ngihtlife in Luton. As it is a small area there are many pubs btut not many clubs and not a wide range of palces to go out. Being on a train line to London however, meant that we could go out in town and have a wider range of places to go out in,

There are some activities to get involved in but not many. There is a football team that some of the men join; apart from that there are various rounders tournaments throughout the year that you can get involved in.