Summer Intern Review

My placement with Rolls Royce was thoroughly enjoyable for many reasons. Not only was the work interesting and suitably challenging, but the social aspect of being an intern here was incredible, with many activities and networking events being organised by the Apprentice & Graduate Association. Being placed in Derby with 100+ interns allowed me to gain insight into more than just my own area of business, through organised tours and generally speaking to other interns about the departments they were in. I was working on state of the art research projects, and the company ethos was very motivating and collaborative which enabled me to really work hard to make the most out of my placement.

The majority of my colleagues made an extensive effort to ensure I settled in well, and I could see they were genuinely interested in what I was doing for my studies and how to help me gain the most out of my summer placement., Not only did I I feel at ease that everyone would be more than happy to help me if I was ever stuck on anything, but I felt people wanted to spend time with me to help me gain an even bigger insight to the business and relevant projects than was necessary to get the job done.

Very regular meetings with my line manager which allowed me to constantly gain support on the work I was carrying out. I also felt that at any point if I was stuck and my line manager was free I was more than welcome to go and speak to them. I had clear goals set out for me from my first day, and these were constantly reviewed to ensure they were still achievable in the timescale.

I had multiple projects running in parallel; this ensured I always had work to be getting on with even if I was stuck on one of the projects. I was also given an intern project to work on which was an enjoyable extra responsibility, as well as various tours organised throughout the placement to give us more of an insight into the different sectors of the business.

It was emphasised that the work I was given was going to be used by people once complete, in order to enhance the work they were doing on big projects. This is a lot of responsibility in itself as I was required to produce work of a good standard, keeping a conscious effort on how I could make it as impactful as possible. We also had an intern group project, in which we were able to delegate roles and responsibilities ourselves.

The most important skill I have developed here is my individual time management and organisation, as there is nobody else here working on the same stuff as me. These skills will be essential in my final year project, and my placement has really taught me how best I work in order to deliver above and beyond my own expectations.

Very positive and relaxed working environment. Everyone was very approachable and passionate about their own work, with a real sense of drive towards an end goal. There was a general ethos of sharing work with others to invoke more idea sharing and process improvement, which was very effective. Cake Fridays was also an added bonus.

Very well organised in every aspect.

I definitely received more than enough personal training and development opportunities to enable me to complete my placement successfully and to a high standard. I feel invested in by the company despite only being a summer intern, and this is something I have not necessarily felt in placements at other companies.

Very appealing. Joining bonus' and returning intern bonus' are enough to inspire returning on the graduate programme if nothing else. But the scheme itself looks extremely appealing too, as it brings the opportunity to rotate around the business and experience different departments, as well as doing a design and make project with other graduates.

Very much so. There were 100+ interns so something was always happening.

Very cheap. Much more disposable income than I have ever experienced before.

Good due to the very high number of interns living in halls together!