Finance Year in Industry Review

Item: Finance Year in Industry at Network Rail
Rating: 4.3
Author: Anonymous

at Network Rail

Placement (10 Months+)

Finance

Rugby

Review Submitted: August 2026

Overall Rating

4.3 /5

The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!

4/5 - Overview of Role

4.5/5 - Skills Development

5/5 - Support and Guidance

3.5/5 - Company Culture

4.5/5 - Overall Experience

5/5 - Future Career Prospects

Overview of Role

Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.

It involved lots of work with excel, refreshing and updating spreadsheet, presenting data and professional emails to finance and non-finance co-workers.

Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?

I had a mixture of responsibility, where I had full control over some projects and others where I would be sending details up to others for their projects

Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was

4/5

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?

I have learnt how to use excel efficiently and use some add ons that Network Rail uses, I have learnt how to build my own PowerBI dashboards and in a interpersonal way, I have learnt how to work in a professional team and provide information in the best way.

How would you rate the training provided during your experience?

5/5

How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?

4/5

How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?

4/5

Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development

5/5

Support and Guidance

How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?

There is a whole Finance new entrants team so I did feel very supported and I was also lucky with the team I was in as everyone was very helpful.

How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?

5/5

How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?

5/5

Company Culture

What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?

The company culture is great for the most part, especially in the office work however more does need to be done to combat the heavy male dominance in the business.

How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?

3/5

How would you rate the social opportunities?

4/5

How would you rate the diversity initiatives?

3/5

How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?

4/5

Overall Experience

To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?

I really enjoyed it! I met lots of great people, I learnt lots about the company and about finance in general. I also learnt lots about myself and how I conduct myself in certain professional situations.

Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship

4/5

Please rate how your experience met your expectations

5/5

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend Network Rail to a friend?

Yes

What advice would you give to others applying to Network Rail

The heart of Network Rail is safety, sustainability and bringing in diversity and inclusion, so make sure to feel passionate about that when applying. Be enthusiastic about learning, as you don't have to know everything about the railways or finance, as I didn't, but if you're keen to learn about it, they are happy.