George's placement year at Dyson

Discover why BSc Accounting & Finance student George decided to study at WBS and the reasons why he decided to take a placement year.

I decided to study BSc Accounting & Finance at WBS because the course is ranked very highly and the business school has great facilities making it a very enjoyable place to study. The best thing about my course so far has to be the lecturers who are extremely knowledgeable. My lecturers are really engaging and always relate the content in their lectures to the real world deepening my understanding of each topic. This is something I particularly appreciate as I have a practical learning style. During my time at WBS so far I have had the opportunity to make some amazing friends and I have found that it has been really useful to be surrounded by like-minded, high-performing students as you constantly push one another to do better.

As part of my BSc Accounting & Finance course, I was able to complete a placement year at Dyson which has been hugely beneficial and is something I would definitely recommend to future students. It enables you to hit the ground running when you start your graduate role, giving your first-hand experience of the working environment. My placement year has helped me grow in confidence and gain a clear understanding of finance in the world of business. I now understand how Dyson get their products to market and the financial challenges they face in doing so.

I have learned so much at Dyson which will be hugely beneficial to me in my future career. I don’t think there has been a single day where I have not learned something new. In addition to this, I am surrounded by lots of very intelligent people who are more than willing to share their knowledge with me. I have not only learned about the financial challenges that company’s face, but also the technical challenges that come with creating new technology and research. This has enabled me to look at the bigger picture when assessing financial information.

During my placement I have had lunch with the CFO, corresponded with the Vice President of Floorcare, and been involved in meetings with the Vice President of Health and Beauty. I feel that the responsibility and exposure I have received as an intern at Dyson has been brilliant and has certainly improved my communication skills. A hugely positive aspect of my placement with Dyson has been the extensive training I have received. I am now competent in using Microsoft Excel and have written visual basic for applications (VBA) that streamlines some of Dyson’s processes.

I feel that the broad spectrum of modules I studied during my first and second year at WBS enabled me to have an excellent grounding when entering the world of business during my placement year. My modules in management, accounting, business, and law were particularly useful when working on new projects at Dyson as I understood how net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and risk is used in the industry.

Discover more about our BSc Accounting & Finance course and our placement year opportunities in our undergraduate brochure.