Finance Intern - Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Review

It is fair to say that my time on placement has probably been the best decision I have ever made! The scheme which the company offered was great in that I was able to spend 6 months on one team and 6 months on another. The teams in which I was priviledged to work within were warm and welcoming, and I felt that I fit in with them well.

From my first day, I was so grateful to be treated like any other employee within the company, from access the employee benefits, to how I was treated by colleagues. I started to feel part of a family and am upset to have to leave.

Over the years I have worked in various roles and have never had such supportive supervisors and managers; whether it be supporting me through illness and having constant medical appointments, or supporting me with learning the role. They were incredibly approachable and always happy to help.

Because I worked within a Accounts department, the levels of busyness varied throughout the month, From having to work to a tight deadline at month end, to having the time to look into trickier/ more demanding queries during the quieter part of the month. My team worked on a rota basis aswell, so you weren't always doing the same thing,

I was surprised at how much responsibility I was given right from the start, whether that was because I imagined I would be making tea for the first few weeks (which I never had to do)! It was nice to be given levels of responsibility that other members of staff were also given.

I can definitely say that opting to do a placement year at Gazprom was a good choice. It has allowed me to see what I would like to aim for after finishing my degree, but also allowed me to put into practise elements that I had learnt on my course prior to my placement year. It has also provided me with more skills than I could have ever imagined, that I would have never gained from just doing a degree, so would definitely say Skills for Life.

Having started my placement in a smaller office with just the Finance team, it was nice to then move into a brand new office (which housed half the Gazprom staff). This allowed me to meet more teams, and work was able to become more interactive as opposed to just dropping someone an email. I believe that not only the new design of office contributed to this, but the atmosphere amongst the whole of Gazprom is warm and friendly. There was always something going on, whether it be charity events, or team meetings.

As part of my placement, the scheme was set to spend 6 months in Accounts Payable and then move to Accounts Receivable for 6 months. This was a great way to spend my time working, as not only did it allow me to expand my knowledge on both teams, but across the whole organisation aswell. This was because each team was separately connected/dealt with such a diverse range of teams, allowing me to learn so much more as-well that I wouldn't have learnt just sticking to one team. My manager had a set plan of what she wanted me to achieve/learn during my time on each team which gave me guidance.

The company prides itself on personal development and I really had chance to see that, They offered me opportunities to work within other teams which would benefit and exel my learning. Additionally, I became a buddy for new starters within the company, and I believe that this allowed me to develop many other skills.

Previous interns which did a placement year, went on to get a job following their degree.

In my team, there was another finance intern who like me spent 6 months in Accounts Payable and 6 months in Accounts Receivable. For alot of the time we work very closely together.

I was fortunate to be able to live at home during my time on placement so not really sure on the cost of living in Manchester.

Manchester is definitely a good night out, with such a diverse range of places to go. Definitely would recommend

They had so many opportunities available outside of work, such as Summr BBQ, Great Manchester Run and Walk up Snowdon.