Hi Akito, how are you doing today? 

Hey! I'm good, thank you. Very busy at the moment as I’m coming to the end of my third placement, which I'll get into shortly… 

Great! Well firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourself?  

In 2018 I started studying Economics at Cardiff University. The broad nature of my course really interested me, but I didn't yet know which direction I wanted to go from there. This became apparent when looking for internships during my second year where I was torn between doing a whole placement year or a shorter style internship. 

I found the Admiral summer internship through the internal university job board, and it looked like a great way to enter the working world. Initially, I didn’t have any idea about the graduate programme and just wanted to gain some summer experience. However, what I learnt throughout the six weeks really made me to want to stay in the business, which I thankfully had the chance to after graduating by joining the programme. 

Amazing! So, what placements have you been on so far? 

Our first placement is assigned to us by the managers of the programme, connected to our skills, interests, and business demand. I joined the Operational Risk team within Admiral Money, a business within Admiral Group that offers lending products. This was an ideal way to start my journey on the programme as I was part of an amazing team and was able to get great insight into the different areas that drive the business due to the nature of risk in a loans company. It was my first hands-on role in a corporate environment, and I really loved it. 

My second role was in Tech Finance within Admiral’s insurance business, where I looked at how we could improve the way we manage and report on our finances within Tech. This gave me a new view of just how much Tech impacts a modern business, and I really enjoyed exploring new software options for this project. 

I’m now coming to the end of my third placement, where I’m currently working abroad at the French subsidiary within Admiral Group, L’olivier. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to move to Paris to take on a role as a Business Analyst in the Finance department. While my previous role related more to the financial side of Tech, I’m now closer to the Tech side of Finance. The focus of this placement is on developing our financial processes, covering a range of areas such as payment processes and data capabilities. The projects I’ve been involved in have enabled me to work with different departments from all around the business, such as Tech, Customer Experience, Marketing and Data. 

Sounds like you’ve been busy! How have you found it?  

Each placement has different levels of support, and different challenges and learning opportunities. Wherever I am, there are always people who are happy to help and offer advice, whether that’s with those who manage the Graduate Programme, or colleagues from the individual placements. The community of graduates is also amazing. We all start together on our induction before going our separate ways onto our placements, so we already have strong connections throughout the business from the outset, and we regularly come back together to share our experiences. Even with me working abroad, five of the other graduates from my cohort came to visit me in Paris! 

My current placement is definitely the most challenging so far. The projects I’ve been given provide real business value and involve areas right across the business. I’m learning so much from this responsibility, and feel grateful to have the opportunity to take it on. In addition to the work, I’ve absolutely loved the experience of moving to Paris, exploring a new city, learning a new language and meeting new people. 

What’s next for you?  

I still don’t have my head set on one thing, but I’ve accepted that’ll probably always be the case! I’ve loved being able to try my hand at different roles, especially working abroad. 

I’m really excited for my next role which’ll be within Admiral Pioneer, another separate business within Admiral Group that looks at seeding, launching, and scaling new businesses and products. This will be my final placement, and it means I’ll have worked in four different departments across four different businesses during my time on the programme! I don’t exactly know what my day to day will be like yet, but I know that it’s a fast moving team with a lot of work to do, so I can’t wait to get stuck in. 

While everyone’s placements vary on our Graduate Programme, or our Emerging Talent Programme for non-graduates, one thing remains consistent: opportunity. Just like Akito, many who join the programmes aren’t quite sure on the career they want for themselves. By experiencing different roles, testing your strengths and weaknesses, and coming out of your comfort zone, you can start to have a greater understanding of what really interests you and take on new opportunities with confidence. 

Would you love to experience roles all over our business, and potentially work abroad too? Learn more about our placement opportunities for graduates and non-graduates.  

If your strengths are in analysis and data, our Data Science Graduate Programme might be perfect for you. You can read all about Ellena, Manoor and Rhys’ experience as Graduate Data Scientists here.