Assistant Commercial Marketing Manager Review

I really enjoyed my summer placement at Centrica, and I'm so glad I did it. We were provided with accommodation at Royal Holloway University (Egham), so it was really easy for us to socialise and make great friends out of work too! Overall it was a great experience and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in doing a summer internship - it's a good way to get into the company you may ultimately want to work for when you graduate.

Although I was only here for 10 weeks, I felt like I'd been there for a lot longer. This was down to the great team I had around me, who never spoke to me as though I was just an intern. They always included me in their discussions (around the business and otherwise) to make sure I never felt left behind, and I was kept up to date with what was happening. I was constantly encouraged to speak at meetings, give my opinion and contribute. I've been able to expand my network by being here for a couple of months, which is one of the most important things to do in the workplace!

The support network that Centrica provide are one of the best that I've come across. You get regular support and 121's with your line manager, who sets your objectives for you and helps you to target your development areas. You are also appointed a Graduate Talent Manager, who is someone currently on their grad scheme - they help you with anything work related, offer advice on how to make the most out of your placement and so on. On top of this, you're given a 'buddy' - another current grad who you can go to for anything you might not feel comfortable going to anyone else about. You also get a mid-placement check in call from one of the more senior HR managers to make sure everything is going okay, and gives you an opportunity to discuss any concerns or thoughts you might have had so far. Overall, you get a great support network around you. You don't have to reach out to them all if you don't want to, but it's good to know that there are so many people around you to turn to, so you never feel isolated or lonely.

I had a series of objectives that I was set, and was generally left to get on with those. I was able to figure out how I'd approach them, which allowed me to find out what I was good at and what I needed to work on a little. I didn't get much adhoc stuff, but because of the depth of my objectives, this wasn't a massive problem for me. When I had time to kill, I'd spent it on our intranet site reading internal articles, or learning more about my area of the business.

I was given a massive amount of responsibility - a lot more than I'd expected! By week 4, my manager had me running conference calls with senior managers which was great exposure for me. I completely owned all the objectives that I was set, and the work that I did was essential. I'd say it was a good amount for someone who has just come into the business with limited knowledge about how it operates. Throwing myself in the deep end really helped me to learn a lot, though.

For the marketing stream, there was lots going on. We had a brand session, with a current grad who has been working in that area. We also had a 'commercial day' with two senior commercial managers, who helped us to understand the theoretical approach to marketing (which I previously covered in my degree), but also made the day fun by asking us to present on a good/bad marketing campaign. There have been plenty of other opportunities, such as a development day, that helped us too. I wouldn't say it would help with my degree, but it definitely helped us with getting to grips with the culture of Centrica.

On Mondays and Fridays it was generally a little quiet due to people working from home, but my core team were always there. We work well together, by engaging in conversation about an upcoming meeting - but also have fun too, with the whole "Did you hear about this on the news..." conversations too! I really liked the atmosphere, it was quiet enough to allow me to get on with work when I was concentrating but relaxed enough for us to talk, too.

I believe it was set up very well. We received a good amount of communication from the placement team before starting, and it was structured very well throughout, too. There have been a couple of mix ups over small things like due dates for progress documents, otherwise it has been a smooth run from start to finish.

As summer interns, we are allowed 1 learning visit, which the grad team pay for. I was lucky enough to have a manager that was happy for me to travel wherever, and however often I liked, as long as it as helping with my development. I went up to Manchester a couple of times to meet with the wider team there, and also arranged meetings with key people I needed help from to progress on my objectives.

Very appealing! I've actually secured a graduate job with Centrica already, and was offered the summer internship too. I am starting this year, and 5/7 grads on the marketing stream are from the previous year of summer placment - which indicates that the opportunity to get onto the grad scheme is good (for marketing anyway).

It was okay - it's hard to be friends with 40 people simultaneously but I made some great friends and hung out with them outside of work too, so I'd say that there was. There were also a couple of nights out etc. This was more amongst placement students, not so much amongst colleagues.

The area was okay, not much to do and can be difficult to get around if you don't have a car. There is a town centre reasonably close by, pubs and restaurants within walking distance, but I think I'd have preferred a more city-central location.

Not the best - often the interns took taxis to other places, because there wasn't much to do around here! There was a small club on campus but wasn't great. Thankfully there were loads of us around so whenever we wanted to get somewhere, getting a taxi was reasonably cheap.

We were put into teams to raise money for the charity, Shelter. So through this, a lot of us did volunteering at soup kitchens, charity shops and took part in fundraising events. This was a great opportunity to get together with people outside of work, have fun and raise money for a great cause too!