Ashley
Hopewell

Placement: The Lubrizol Corporation

Position: Finance Assistant

As part of my BA (Hons) Business Management and Accounting and Finance degree at Nottingham Business School, I completed a one-year work placement which I secured at The Lubrizol Corporation.

The Employability Team helped me review my CV and provided recommendations which would allow me to stand out from other candidates. they also helped me to create good quality cover letters which would interest prospective employers.

My placement was secured quite late in the year as the role itself was only advertised in July. The opportunity was brought to my attention by a tutor who had contacted students to make them aware of upcoming opportunities. I applied for the role via the company’s website and was called in for an interview. I had a formal competency based interview that also included some technical questions that related to the position. I had an informal interview with another member of staff who walked me around the site and allowed me to meet the rest of the team and ask any questions I may have had.

I received a phone call from NTU within my first few days of my placement to ensure I had settled into the company, and that everything was going okay. I also had a meeting during the first few months with my placement tutor, who ran through relevant documentation and I was able to talk through how I had found my first few months on placement. My tutor also gave me information on how to prepare for the recall day, which would happen towards the end of my placement.

What I enjoyed most about my placement was the real responsibility I had within the business and the feeling that I was really contributing to the finance team and the wider organisation that I was supporting. This variety in my role meant I was constantly being challenged and that allowed me to work with a variety of different colleagues across the organisation. The team were supportive and I was always able to ask for guidance.

There were a number of different elements of my course that I was able to draw on during my placement. One example of this was my understanding of ‘double entry accounting’ and how each transaction involves two element – this was something that I was using in almost every task I completed during my time in the accounts payable and finance team.

I have gained so many skills from my placement experience which has put me in a good position when looking for a new role upon graduation. While out on placement I would encourage students to make the most of every opportunity they can to make it as beneficial to them as possible and to network with business contacts when possible.