Operations Management Summer Internship Review

The internship has been really interesting, and a fantastic opportunity to gain experience working at a high-class engineering company. It was good to get involved with a variety of responsibilities, assisting with different projects. I have been very pleased with the support available, and also the amount of trust given to interns. Overall I have really enjoyed the internship, and would be very pleased to continue onto the Graduate programme.

I was impressed with the level of trust given to interns. My colleagues were very professional, and enabled me to achieve my aims and objectives in the role. Everyone that I have worked with has been really friendly and supportive – as well as recognising my achievements. I definitely get the impression that most staff appreciate the contributions made by interns.

My line manager always seems to be very busy, but does take the time to discuss things with me. Most of the time I have been working with a variety of other managers/supervisors to carry out projects and to gain an understanding of the different roles available within the company. In addition to support from my manager, I consider the guidance on the company intranet to be very helpful – and I would consider the Early Careers team to be supportive.

Throughout my internship I have been able to achieve a lot of successful outcomes – there were some times that I was very busy, and others with less to do. I really like to have lots to do, so when I completed a task I would ask what I should do next, and there was always something else to do.

I was very impressed at the amount of responsibility and trust given to interns – I had initially expected that we would be seen more as “work experience people - mainly just watching and helping”, but we were much more part of the team. The first couple of weeks mainly consisted of learning the role, but from there onwards I have been able to perform lots of independent projects and tasks, as well as the opportunity to work as a full member of the team. Overall I was really pleased.

Whilst completing the internship there were lots of opportunities for learning and experience. The company uses an online training website, there are a few compulsory modules, but you can do as many online courses as you want, and also some classroom learning if discussed with your manager. I would say that the most useful application of my experience is that I have gained a greater awareness of the content in my studies, which will enable me to demonstrate an understanding of real-world issues and to be more critical of some theories. Overall, this internship has definitely helped me to learn a lot, and will be really helpful in my final year when I return to university.

I was working in a production facility, so it was quite different to a regular office. However, everyone was really friendly, and there was a great atmosphere on the site. Everyone has been really polite, and most people tend to say hi when walking about the facility. For birthdays/leaving etc. people bring in cakes for everyone, and are very happy to include interns.

The internship was organised really well, right from the initial application and assessment centre all the way through to the internship it seems to be very professional. The internship is definitely a fantastic route onto the Grad Scheme, I believe something like 70% of people who do the graduate scheme have already completed an internship. The early careers team also helped to arrange accommodation for the summer, staying in Derby Uni halls, where lots of interns stayed.

As I was only working here for 10 weeks, I would not expect to have the time to do lots of training, but I definitely feel that the online learning website is really useful. There is definitely the chance to do more learning, but it really depends on your role as to what is on offer.

I would definitely be very pleased to continue working for Rolls-Royce, and I would definitely consider the opportunities to be very accessible. It would be ideal to complete an internship before final year, then to return on the grad scheme. However, I know some people that have completed more than 1 year of internships as they have more years to go before finishing. Overall, there’s definitely lots of opportunities.

There is an apprentice and graduate association, which does weekly activities, which are accessible to interns. Staying in halls made the experience much more social, with the opportunity to meet lots of people. There’s always something going on, whatever you interests are you will probably find people with similar ideas.

There is an apprentice and graduate association, which does weekly activities, which are accessible to interns. Staying in halls made the experience much more social, with the opportunity to meet lots of people. There’s always something going on, whatever you interests are you will probably find people with similar ideas.

Lots of people got involved with different events, most weeks there would be stuff happening 2-3 evenings a week….and everyone is really friendly – so it’s a good atmosphere. There’s a variety of activities available, so it matches whatever interest you may have. Overall, relatively good – almost everyone was an Engineer, which made everyone fairly likeminded.

Derby is only a short distance from the Peak district, so it is really easy to get there for evenings or at weekends. The Apprentice and Graduate association does regular events, with lots of trips or activities around the midlands. Alternatively, with so many interns living in halls it has been really easy to set up doing shared activities.