I joined the Allianz IT Placement Scheme in August 2018 as part of my Business and Management degree. During my placement, I had exposure to different business areas which helped confirm that I wanted to progress my career with Allianz. I re-joined Allianz in July 2020. My current role is a PMO Analyst with the Enterprise P3O team in Guildford.

I applied for the scheme because I wanted to broaden my understanding of the business and also build up my experience across a variety of different opportunities. Whilst I didn’t know what that meant at the time, it has resulted in projects across business functions, countries, levels of responsibilities and has meant I have engaged with members of the business across all levels.

My application process was similar to others in that I had to upload my resume, complete competency-based assessments, undergo a telephone interview and attend an assessment centre. Make sure you are yourself and honest and that you prepare. There are plenty of tips online on how to prepare for these assessments.

Most days would start just before 9 am and finish around 5 pm, but the beauty of my placement was that no two days were the same. Within my role, there was plenty of variety and different tasks to get involved.

The most valuable part of my placement was gaining the trust of management and my team. A key highlight and achievement were being made responsible for creating the content for the highest governance meeting within the IT function. At the start of my placement, when I sought to fill my capacity, I was told to assist my colleagues in creating the monthly pack. But midway through the placement, my colleagues trusted me to collate the data and extract the critical messages for Executive attention.

One of my first projects was to organise an away day for the IT Management team. It transpired that I would open the presentation and welcome approximately 40 individuals. This was a big challenge as I had not met some of the management team before, and presenting did not come naturally to me. Other challenges involved occasionally working beyond my contracted hours, that said, this would often be recognised and appreciated by my team. Both of these challenges stand out as key aspects of my placement which helped me develop into the individual I am today.

My placement significantly helped increase my proficiency in Microsoft applications such as Outlook. Throughout, I made use of my Allianz LinkedIn Learning subscription, whereby I attended courses to enhance my soft and technical skills. I also attended several career and development courses which improved my confidence and gave me opportunities to network with senior management. At a team level, there were opportunities to participate in the team's transformation, which since re-joining have further developed and matured.

I would highly recommend that students apply for a Placement at Allianz. I learnt many skills which I was able to apply during my final year at University, which significantly helped me achieve a first-class honours degree. I thoroughly enjoyed my 12-months at Allianz, and to be honest, in the end, I did not want to leave. Most importantly, as I have experienced, if you work hard and go above and beyond, there are full-time employment opportunities after you graduate from University.