Campaigns and Activities Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement here at HPE, I have learned valuable skills that will help me on my return to University. I have also gained an insight into what I want to do with my future which is more than I could of asked for when first starting.

Throughout my year I have helped a variety of people through numerous tasks and I have also felt appreciated and thanked for my hard work. I have received multiple types of recognition - overnight stay, trophy, recognition points and through all of this, this has helped to make me feel valued and that the work I do is noticed.

I have always felt that I could approach people when help was required. There is a great support network here in HPE whether it be from my line manager or other sales managers in the centre I know that I can always ask someone for a helping hand. Having other interns the same age as me work beside me I can also ask them for assistance.

The nature of my job role means that I am always kept going, there are some routine tasks that I carry out on a day to day basis; however my day is then always filled with other jobs - no day is the same which is one of the reasons I enjoy my role. When I first started I was not overly busy; however this will always be the case when you begin a new role and are finding your feet; however as the months went on I have found to be rushed off my feet, but this has been a great development of mine in learning how to deal with this.

For my role I feel I was given a lot of responsibility. I was given tasks that I could drive and take ownership of meaning if something went wrong I would have to deal with it and vice versa if it went well I was praised and given credit. My worry before I began was that I would be running about making the tea and other mundane boring jobs; however this definitely not the case.

I do marketing at university and a lot of my role was quite creative in terms of using photoshop, creating comms to send to the centre, managing the screens therefore it will help me if the direction I want to take is marketing and advertising. I was also involved in coming up with incentives which is always good in sales/business. I have worked with a wide range of people meaning my interpersonal skills have greatly benefitted and are definitely skills for life - transferable skills in any environment.

Great atmosphere - it is a sales environment where everyone loves incentives/competitions and winning things. We always had incentives running to reward the sales people which kept it upbeat and lively. We had blitz days where the ISR's would call out to their customers and in reward for certain actions they would receive a prize which always went down well. Obviously there had to be serious points as well as it was a business environment.

I feel compared to other sections there wasn't a set structure to our internship - no goals etc which is definitely one area I feel they need to improve on; however it did the job I have came out of it feeling more prepared for going back to university and I also know I want to go into events which my line manager was extremely happy with.

I didn't partake in any personal training as such; however through my tasks I have developed my photoshop skills, excel skills and email skills. So by giving me various tasks they have helped me develop greatly.

HPE would be a great company to work for especially sales. The graduate programme is greatly structured with a competitive wage and with coaches who are great at what they do. HPE have a paid for gym and the canteen is affordable. All these things add up to make it a desirable future position.

Yes we created a great network of about 10 interns and we partook in many charity events throughout the year together which got us socializing. We also socialized outside of work in terms of going for meals and drinks. I have made many friends for life which I will be forever grateful for. There were also many social occasions with our managers in terms of being take out for meals and also work events which I assisted in organizing.

I stayed at home in Gourock so the distance was only about 40 minutes and about £30 a week in petrol. We often went into Glasgow for dinner and drinks and this was relatively cheap so can't complain there.

We are situated near Glasgow meaning the night life is great - plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants so you are never short of somewhere to go.

Yes in terms of our intern charity group we partook in the Glasgow Kilt Walk 2017; however apart from that that was really it. The boys were able to get involved in work football teams etc.