Government Affairs Assistant Review

When I look back over the year the opportunities I was given were amazing, however, I do remember quite often feeling bored and feel I could have learned more.

There were three interns in the department and we all felt like we were part of the team. You really are a valued member of staff and actually don't feel like an intern at all! I have done internships since and really notice how valued I was at Airbus.

I had weekly meetings with my supervisor and felt I could discuss any issues between these times also. I was also encouraged to get as much out of the year as possible.

This really varied throughout my placement. It was very slow to start and I was quite bored but at other times, such as leading up to big events, it could be really busy. I would say overall I certainly wasn't over-worked.

Again, this started off slowly but by the end of the placement I was trusted to get on with things on my own. However, I was often left to host MPs on my own and speak about Airbus at events so I guess that's quite a bit of responsibility! I even had my own business cards so really was a company representative.

The skills I developed such as writing clearly and concisely and also paying attention to details were invaluable and will no doubt help me when I'm back at uni. Also having the name on my CV will hopefully stand me in good stead after graduation.

People were busy and got their work done but we still had a bit of office banter and could chat within reason. I think the office had the balance right and everyone was really friendly too. Not a good office if you were on a diet as there was constantly cakes!

The placement scheme is now quite established so it is well run and the department is used to having new staff ever year and the challenges this brings.

I went on several external training courses in London and some in-house ones also. I also had a great learning curve when I has thrown in the deep end at events - with hindsight they could probably have given more guidance on good networking techniques etc.

There isn't really a position a placement student could go into following graduation. There is a really good graduate scheme but you would have to apply for a stream such as HR or finance.

Although I didn't get that involved as I was away at weekends I know there was things going on and did receive emails about events. You could be as involved or uninvolved as you wished.

Normal prices really.

Bristol city centre wasn't far away.

As before, there were things going on if you wanted to get involved. In particular foreign students were very active socially.