Heather's finance placement at Asahi beer

This is a guest post from Royal Holloway Year in Business student Heather Kinnear, who is spending the 3rd year of her degree out on placement at the European office of Asahi beer in nearby Woking. Heather shares an insightful and visual perspective on her placement in the interview below. 

Asahi Beer are currently advertising placement positions for 2020/21 in Commercial (Trade Marketing) and Finance. Royal Holloway students should check their weekly vacancy bulletin and Year in Business moodle page (Placement vacancy Links) for more details or speak to the Placement team.

Tell us about your Asahi placement and what it’s entailed so far?

1.      I am currently on a Finance and Supply Chain placement with Asahi Premium Brands. I started at the beginning of July and over the past 5 months I have had so much exposure to a variety of responsibilities and tasks, and I’ve even had the opportunity to travel to Switzerland! My main role within Finance is to work closely with a number of teams to manage customer accounts and reconciliations of these accounts, customer order approvals and processing our supplier invoices. 

What have you enjoyed the most about your placement at Asahi?

2.       The People. When I first started at APB, everyone was so welcoming, kind and always more than happy to help and answer, the many, questions which I had. Whilst I settled in, I had a lot of support from my team, which I am extremely grateful for as it made the transition to working life a lot more bearable! Now, 5 months later, my confidence has increased significantly, I am able to manage my time more effectively than beforehand, all thanks to my wonderful team.

What advice would you give to any students applying for the Summer 2020 intake?

3.       When applying for a job role, make sure you pay attention to detail. For example, if you need a cover letter with your CV, write a cover letter. Keep your CV/cover letter straight to the point. Look at what skills they are looking for and think of an example/scenario of how you have used that skill. Most importantly though, be yourself. Don’t over-exaggerate your capabilities.

In 3 words how would you describe the Asahi culture?

4.       Passionate, Driven and Nurturing

Entrance to the office

Canteen

Business trip to Switzerland

Business trip to Switzerland

My desk

Peroni Marketing event

The finance team

Helping at the Year in Business Picture Gallery event