Nasser Salim Mansurali

Country of origin: Portugal

Placement: RWE Npower

I chose to take a placement year because I believed professional experience was just as important as academic achievements. The idea of graduating and knowing what’s out there was very appealing, not to mention the leverage I would have over other candidates with less experience than me. Luckily Lancaster offered the course I wanted with an integrated placement.

I joined RWE npower as a Business Analyst and throughout the year I was part of two different teams. In the first one my role consisted of tracking and documenting requirements from the business into the main tracker. To do this I had to go through the Business Process Steps and identify the requirements from the appropriate Release. As many of them were missing I also had to chase people from different work streams so they could give me the information I needed. In my second team I took the role of a Project Support Officer where I assumed the responsibility of organising meetings, taking actions, etc. During this time I also took the lead in keeping both the daily and the activity tracker up to date to track the team’s performance in relation to our objectives.

I would summarise my placement experience as challenging and insightful. At the start there were several barriers to overcome with regards to objectives and having the appropriate guidance and support in order to have a positive experience. But throughout the placement I had enough time to expose these concerns and work collectively with my managers to find solutions and ensure I was making the most out of this year out of university. I would rate this placement as a very good experience where I had the chance to learn a lot.

There are several aspects of my placement I really enjoyed such as the fast pace learning environment or the levels of responsibility I’d been given. Throughout this year I was able to gain people’s confidence by showing professionalism and both the positive and bad experiences only helped me continuously improve. I had the chance of gaining invaluable experience while getting the appropriate support to work on my personal development. Throughout this year I had a lot of time to look around and think about what I want to do after I graduate and have made the decision that I want to partake in a graduate scheme in an investment bank.

The help I got from LUMS Careers Team was extremely important in my placement search and preparation. On top of the Preparation for Placement module, I found the support available in the drop-in clinics very helpful. As my applications weren’t being successful, I went to talk to Rory at every drop-in clinic and give him an update of what I was doing and what I could do to improve it. By the end of the year I felt a lot more comfortable in interviews and in late July I was offered a placement.