Erle's Placement Year in Business

 

We caught up with final year Business Management student Erle, who had a summer internship with BMW Financial Services in Farnborough. He then split his placement year between Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Alphabet, part of the BMW Group.  

 

Tell us about your summer internship with BMW Financial Services   

Between my second and third year applied for a summer internship as an Assistant Financial Accountant at BMW Financial Services. I had to complete an application form, go to an assessment centre and have an interview. It was a three-month internship from early June to mid-September and I really loved it. I learned all about month-end journals, balance sheets, payment file creation and learned a lot in Excel.  

 

 

Tell us about your placement year  

I split my placement year between two companies. First, Enterprise Rent-a-Car for three months then Alphabet for the rest.

Our Faculty Employability Adviser would sometimes run sessions within lectures to encourage us to try and get experience and do as many activities as possible to build up our CVs and profiles. She advised us to try and get a placement as it's good for employability. I applied to Enterprise Rent-a-Car and had an online video interview and got the placement. The Careers team at the uni were so helpful, with free LinkedIn photos, messaging recruiters directly, looking over my CV and they’ll do a practice interview with you too and you say which company you are practising for and how your values align with the company’s values.  

The week before I actually started at Enterprise, they invited me to a little social event just to get to know everyone. I was like a management trainee so it linked to my degree a bit more directly than the summer placement. I did learn from it and it was a really good experience. I even did things like managing the branch for a day. I then moved to working in accounting at Alphabet, which is a sub company of BMW, as I had kept in touch with the manager from my summer internship. I was thrown in at the deep end and really enjoyed it there, with lovely colleagues and a really nice working environment. I completed my placement hours at Alphabet, as you need to complete more than 1,000 hours for your full-year placement.

You always have your university contact while you're out on placement and can ask them questions and advice too. I had to write monthly reports for uni during the placement reflecting on what I had learned and what I wanted to learn.

What skills did you develop during your year in business?  

The skills you learn can be transferred to anything you might want to do in the future. At uni you learn quite a lot through theory, but on placement you develop hard and soft skills. In Excel I learned VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP which is so useful for balance sheets in accounting. It also developed my confidence. I felt like before in groups I was a bit shy, whereas now I will happily contribute and get others involved too if they are being quiet. It does change you as a person. It has got me wanting to go back and to get into work.  

How has it been coming back to Winchester for your final year?  

You are used to working 9-5. Working for a year teaches you that you can’t be lazy, because when I was working there was always so much to do and that work ethic ingrains in your mentality, so coming back to uni you are chasing the higher grades, trying to chase that First.   

What do you plan on doing after you graduate?  

I am applying to multiple different things at the moment including accounting roles as I really enjoy accounting. I'm hoping an employer might sponsor me to do one of the accounting qualifications, such as CIMA, ACA or ACCA. I also really enjoy the project management module now in my final year, so I'm looking into these roles too.

Would you recommend a placement to a Business Management student considering this as an option?  

Yes – definitely. The skills you gain from a placement can be transferred to anything you do and will set you apart from someone just with a degree. Having the skills you can demonstrate with your actual experience means a lot more than just having a transcript. And you can get a good reference from your placement employer too. If you do well enough, you can potentially return for a full graduate management training scheme.  

 

If you think a year in industry as part of your Business Management degree could be for you, your Faculty Employability Adviser can help. You can contact them through the University's Careers Hub.

  

 

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