Meet Rachel, a Finance Graduate

What is your name and what did you study at University?

Hi! My name is Rachel and I went to Loughborough University. I studied Economics as my undergraduate degree and then went onto doing a Masters in Finance.

What activities did you undertake at University that helped you in your working life? What skills did you learn? 

While at Loughborough I was part of the university’s tennis and volleyball team. This helped me to develop my teamwork and organisational skills as I had to fit in several training sessions as well as matches around my studies! 

I also did a placement year during my undergrad degree which further developed my skills within a workplace environment, as well as helping to decide what I wanted to do career wise!

What appealed to you about working at Ocado Group on the graduate programme?

I’d seen Ocado on a few career pages, as well as all the vans driving around, but didn’t really know much about Ocado Group! At this point I still thought that Waitrose was partnered with Ocado (spoiler alert - they aren’t anymore!). 

After doing a bit of my own research and watching the videos of the robots operating on the grid at the CFC’s I was fully invested! I loved the idea of working for a company that is constantly looking for ways to grow and improve, as well as making sure you are doing the same in your own professional career!

I also liked the fact that as a Finance Graduate, your rotations are a year long, which gives plenty of time to fully understand your role and in lots of detail. You’re also given lots of responsibility from day one so it really feels like you’re contributing from the moment you start!

What does your job entail (please consider IP)?

I’ve just started in my first rotation, and I am currently in the Tech Ops Direct Commercial Accounting team at Ocado, which involves looking after the direct costs of our live CFC’s.

What tips would you give to a student or graduate interested in the graduate programme?

A key tip I would give is to let your personality shine through! Not all the answers to questions in interviews need to be what you think they want to hear - they’re not only looking for people who may have good answers but also people who bring a unique personality and energy to the team!

But also make sure you do some research on the company as well!

What's one thing you now know/ like about Ocado that you didn't expect before you started?

Hopefully from your own research you’ll see that Ocado is now partnered with M&S which means a constant supply (and lots of eating) of Percy Pigs!

On a more serious side, the company is also really good at making sure we all have a good work life balance so there are plenty of social opportunities where you can get to know lots of other people! The offices are huge - so it’s nice to be able to meet other people working in different sectors of the business as well as being able to take a bit of time away from work every now and then!