For my final year I have taken on the responsibility of being a Student Ambassador, so far, I have assisted on our most recent open day. For this, I talked to aspiring economists and helped out the Head of the Department during the Economics talk, answering questions in front of a large audience of a few hundred parents and students.

Over the past year I have been working at Lockheed Martin as an accounting and finance intern. I have spent most of my time managing four of our bank accounts, working with the invoicing team and helping the accounting team out wherever needed, especially at month end by completing reconciliations and journals. I have also spent time learning about automation within the workplace and how I can implement this in my job. Following the conclusion of my placement year (August 2023), I was asked if I would like to stay on as a part-time employee until the end of November, mainly to help the team through a transition period. My time at Lockheed Martin has given me a much greater understanding of the world of work, which I believe I can take forward with me into my future career. It also greatly enhanced my analytical skills and taught me the importance of attention to detail in the world of finance.

I spent most of my time working in the kitchen where I would assemble and cook the food, make sure everything was clean and stock was up to date. Towards the end of my time at McDonald’s, as I had become a more experienced member of staff, I was sometimes asked to help train new employees with the kitchen tasks, or do some work on the customer floor if we were short staffed. My time at McDonald’s greatly improved my communication and confidence, especially when talking to customers. As the McDonald’s kitchen can at times be a very fast paced, stressful working environment, working here taught me the value of teamwork and how working collaboratively and effectively can increase efficiency in a workplace.