This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I was given a lot of responsibility, challenging work, extensive contact with clients, and enjoyed the positive atmosphere of the team.
My colleagues valued my opinion, respected and trusted my work, and trusted in my abilities. My colleagues became my friends.
Our analyst spent a lot of time teaching us the basics in the beginning of the internship. He was always available to ask questions and very friendly and understanding. I would argue however, that I was very lucky relative to other teams on the floor. The guidance and support provided to us was however, more task based. A perfect score from me would have left room for more personal career guidance.
I was staffed on a live deal for the entire summer, so I was lucky to be very busy most of the time. There were a few very difficult weeks, hours-wise. Many weekends were spent at the office (at least for a few hours a day). After the deal quietened down, my workload was lighter, and I had to have a lot of my own initiative to think of independent tasks to do.
In unexpected situations, where suddenly senior staff member became too overstaffed, I was given surprisingly important and difficult tasks to do in order to meet team deadlines. These tasks were challenging and exciting and I was given recognition for them afterwards. The intern role involves a lot of low level work, and the core of the internship work schedule is made up of this, however.
My degree is largely unrelated to the summer internship, however the industry insight into how an economy works and what roles companies play in society were very enlightening. The skills I learned here will be useful for anything I decide to do afterwards: hard work, diligence, attention-to-detail, professionalism, and communication skills.
The Company
My team had a very inclusive and positive atmosphere. Staff members of other teams were more hierarchical/strict/competitive. Overall it was a good balance of feeling welcome but being challenged as well.
HR had done a good job with organisation: a lot of events for interns for example. Sometimes these events felt a little unplanned, however, and even a waste of time (when the team was extremely busy for example). Other functions such as payroll worked very well, however with some confusions on tax codes.
Many training sessions, access to expensive data platforms, etc: the firm invested a lot of money and energy to train us up to standard.
Subsidised Canteen
Company Car
Subsidised/Company Gym
International Travel
Financial Bonus
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
V. appealing. Loved it here.
The Culture
The intern group was very active in organising social events (e.g. going out to dinner/drinks/club every Friday)
V. high (central London)
Very alive (central London)
In your free time (if you have any)
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
London
August 2016