Our students

Why did you take a placement year?

I felt like I needed some industry experience to see what it’s going to be like when I start employment. There are lots of different opportunities within the finance industry and so many roles I could go into, so I wanted to refine my options.

Tell us about the placement

I undertook a year-long placement with a worldwide travel retail platform, Travelport. I joined at the start of the pandemic so had to quickly adapt to an everchanging working environment with a mixture of remote and office-based working.

What support did you get from the careers service?

They helped me realise that I needed to push myself to find a placement and get some experience. And I’m glad they did, it’s been great. They were really good with helping me to develop my CV and were on hand to assist with preparing for the interview and assessment process and giving me practice psychometric tests. Just having the University team there to boost my confidence was a great help.

What did you get involved in?

I was based within the finance team working with intelligent automation, which was something I would never have thought of doing. It helped me to understand different departments within the finance team including accounts payable, treasury and tax, and it helped me to understand how I could apply what I’d learnt at university in a real company.

What skills did you develop?

I developed key transferrable skills for my future career. I did a lot of public speaking which really helped enhance my presentation skills. I even presented to a senior leadership team which was a great confidence boost. I’d now feel much more comfortable going into different work environments.

Future plans?

I’m hoping to get a graduate role in tax, specifically corporate tax. My placement gave me lots of new opportunities and I networked with many different kinds of people – I’ve developed so many new connections for when I graduate.

What advice would you give to others?

Take advantage of all opportunities. Applying for placements can be tough but it’s so worth it. I had to get in touch with lots of companies before I got the offer that I wanted. The key is to keep applying to as many as you can and don’t be put off by any rejections, it’s really competitive but you’ll get there eventually.