Month: October 2018

My favourite things about Sheffield

By Katie Bryant, BA Business Management

Ask people from outside of the city what they know about Sheffield and they’ll describe it as ‘The Steel City’, home to the 90’s film The Full Monty and actor Sean Bean, to name a few! But, there is so much more to Sheffield…

 

The Views

Sheffield was built on seven hills. Walking around the city makes you very fit because of the number of hills, however when you get to the top of any hill the views are 100% worth it. Everywhere you go there is beauty in Sheffield, from the architecture of the old buildings to the modern, there isn’t a light it doesn’t look good in.

The Parks

This is Weston Park, only a five minute walk from the Management School

It’s good to get out of the city every now and then to experience some nature, but the great thing about Sheffield is you don’t have to. Sheffield is rumoured to be the greenest city in Europe with the highest tree to person ratio, but if all that isn’t enough we also have the glorious Peak District surround us. There are 13 city parks, 20 district parks and 50 local parks across Sheffield, and there are over two million trees in the city (estimated); that’s more than four trees per person.

The Pubs

There are loads of amazing student friendly pubs in Sheffield. A student favourite is the Nottingham House, serving an amazing selection of pies and ales.

The Events

Every month there are multiple events that you simply just can’t miss. With Sheffield being home to some of the best live music venues, sporting events, inner city festivals, club nights and theatre shows you’d be crazy to miss them. Sheffield Theatres is the largest theatre complex outside London. Across the three auditoria: The Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio, they offer a huge variety of home-grown and touring productions, as well as a thriving programme of participatory events and activities.

The Music

Sheffield’s musical talents stretches further than the likes of Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys. In fact, it’s awash with musical talent and heritage with the likes of Reverend and the Makers, Bring me the Horizon, Def Leppard, The Human League and Richard Hawley to name a few. Venues like The Leadmill and The Harley to keep you up to date on the up-and-coming artists. We even host an annual music festival called Tramlines, which is popular with the locals and students alike!

The Food

The vast array of restaurants have been the driving force behind the independence of Sheffield. There is a great restaurant in every postcode and the food scene is a true representation of the all-encompassing attitude towards different cultures.

The Peak District

The Peak District National Park is only a 5-minute drive from some parts ofSheffield. The incredible scenery is a must see. City centre buses go to the Peak District for only £1.20 if you don’t have a car. My personal highlights of the Peak district include Dovedale, Castleton and Buxton, and Sheffield is a haven for rock climbers, mountain bikers, road cyclists and hikers. With easy access to the plentiful rock in the Peak District, these passionate individuals flock to the city to indulge in their hobby and be among a community that holds their chosen sport and the outdoors close.

Meadowhall

For anyone who loves shopping – Sheffield is the place for you! Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies 3 miles north-east of Sheffield city centre and 2 miles from Rotherham town centre. It is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire and the eighth largest in the United Kingdom. Meadowhall is only a short tram journey away from the city centre.

I hope that this whistle-stop tour of Sheffield was helpful for anyone thinking of visiting, and if you do I hope you enjoy everything Sheffield has to offer!

My placement experience – Lloyds Banking Group

Hi, I’m Rosie and I am a final year BA Business Management with Employment Experience student. This blog post is about my placement year which I have just returned back from, the skills I developed and how I would recommend a placement year to everyone and anyone… so here’s why!

The application processes can be brutal, as you’re spending considerable time on applications and often hear nothing back. I’m happy to say it’s all worth it when you finally secure a placement and know that it’s not all been for nothing. The sense of achievement is a great feeling when you’ve successfully got your first job and got your foot in the door. My placement was at Lloyds Banking Group. This is where your journey – and potentially your entire career – starts.

My placement began a few weeks after my final second year exam. My team were welcoming, supportive and most importantly I had a ‘proper’ role within the team, not just making the cups of tea and filing away documents. Without getting into too much detail of what I did in my day to day role due to confidentiality, I worked in the PMO (Project Management Office) for the Risk Division. We ensured all running projects were in line with their scope; finance, resources, planning, time and internal and external governance. So what did I learn from this role? The ability to question the status quo. The team had to complete numerous, tedious tasks, I booked myself on excel courses and took it upon myself to automate these tasks which are now heavily embedded into the team. Definitely got myself some brownie points there.

Come Christmas time, the company was undergoing a huge restructure. It was good to experience this as it occurs quite often in larger organisations. I could see that morale of certain individuals dipped and others seemed happy to have the chance to do something new. Time for a team away day and a team building football game!

On the back of the restructure, my role did change and I became a Risk Strategic Analyst. This meant that instead of checking projects whilst they were in the process of being delivered, I now decided which projects were to go ahead. With a set budget, which projects would benefit the group the best? To do this, my communication skills had to be excellent. I was now dealing with the board, the head of risk as well as many other senior members of staff. I had to learn how each individual preferred to be contacted, when was appropriate and be clear with why I was contacting them. Daunting to say the least.

So my year at Lloyds Banking Group was coming to a close. I enjoyed it so much I decided to go for the graduate programme that Lloyds Banking Group and the Risk Division had to offer. I’m happy to say I was successful! I will be returning in September 2019. I would recommend a placement year just purely for the experience. I gained so much confidence, belief in myself and now as a Futures First ambassador for the Management School I will happily lead lectures for 200+ first year students. You definitely wouldn’t have seen me doing that a year ago!

My summer internship

By Tommy Fletcher, BA Accounting and Financial Management

After second year, following the various stages of the application process, I  was lucky enough to gain a place on Ernst & Young’s summer internship programme, based in the Audit team at their Hull office. With the graduate job market becoming increasingly competitive, experience has become a hugely valuable thing to have on your CV. This was perhaps best summed up on my first day with Ernst & Young, when I was told that the internship essentially works as a trial for both me and the company. If the company liked me then the chances are a graduate job offer would be on the table, and if I liked the job role and the company, then great! However, if I didn’t like that role, I had the chance to get a taste of other service lines which also could lead to a graduate position, or at the very least, I’d come away with an idea of what I didn’t want to do and another name on my CV.

Into the internship itself, and after a couple of days’ induction and training, it was straight onto real audit work, with clients ranging from small local businesses to FTSE listed companies and even a company that was no longer in existence. I spent a number of days out on client sights, where exposure to high ranking clients provided the perfect opportunity to develop my soft skills when obtaining information to complete the audit, as well as a chance to get to know your team better and find out more about working for the company. I also had the opportunity to shadow a partner, a unique prospect which enabled me to sit in on a partner meeting, before discussing career paths over lunch. The internship culminated with the Ernst & Young Hull summer social, before a final celebration with other interns from across the north.

A few weeks after the internship I found out that I’d received a graduate job offer, something which really allowed me to relax and focus on my studies in my final year without the worry of time consuming applications. I was also able to call upon my experience during the summer, particularly in the final year audit module where I could incorporate real life examples from practice into my work. Now that I’ve graduated and looking forward to starting my role after summer, I’m glad I put in the extra effort during my summer internship, and would recommend it to anyone.