Commercial Marketing intern Review

I definitely enjoyed my internship at Centrica. The internship is set out and organised very well- there are so many opportunities to get involved in. I travelled a fair amount between different offices, got involved in various volunteering opportunities, got to network with people from a wide variety of teams and roles, and had the opportunity to meet and live with 40 other interns whom I can genuinely say I have made really good friends with.

I feel like my colleagues did value you me whilst I was working at Centrica. Not only did they give me some jobs and projects that I felt actually added value to the business and team, but they were very welcoming and friendly- I was always invited to eat lunch with them and they always made the effort to treat me just like any other member of the team.

My manager and supervisors always gave me really comprehensive feedback, support and guidance in order to maximise my learning and development during my internship. They always asked me if I needed any help or advice and were very welcoming and happy to sit down with me to explain things in depth. Even in meetings, as I was in an area of the business I was unfamiliar with, they would always ensure to explain terminology or projects they were talking about simplistically and in-depth just for me in order to make sure I could follow. They were all very approachable.

What I particularly liked about my placement is that I was given 3 very much long- term projects to complete throughout the duration of my time at Centrica. This meant that I always had something to do. On top of this, I would have meetings to attend, days out of the office, visited other office, or could set up my own meetings with people/ managers across the business as I saw fit to find out more about their role. This ensured that I always had something to do- something which I hadn't experienced upon a previous internship I have undertaken when I was very much waiting on my manager a lot of the time to be given another task.

I think I was given a considerable amount of responsibility during my placement. I had 3 projects to work on very much independently, which meant managing my own time, working out how best to execute my projects and contacting the right people to get things done. My projects were, however, quite research-based, which meant that they didn't have a massive amount of immediacy to be done and were seen more as a chance to enhance the knowledge of the team, rather than directly contributing to the functioning of the business itself.

I undertook an internship on the commercial marketing stream, wanting to go into a career in marketing; however, my placement was in Corporate Affairs and so more tilted towards the commercial rather than marketing side. For this reason I probably wouldn't go into a similar team, however I do think nonetheless that it has provided me with some really good background and insight into the different functions and roles of a business that I didn't realise existed before. Alongside this, it has definitely enhanced my time-management, research skills and confidence- not only in completing tasks, but talking to different people and having faith in the work I produce.

The general atmosphere in the office is really nice. I was based in Windsor, which is Centrica's HQ, so the office itself is quite swish. The people, though, are extremely friendly. They always have time to talk to you, whether its just for a catch-up or to explain some of their work to you, or help you with yours. The culture is also quite laid-back with no strict 9-5 policy- as long as you get all your work done, you can leave at 4.30 if you want.

The internship itself was quite well organised. We were given a calendar of different events taking place for all the interns at the beginning of our placement, so you already knew what days key events, such as our intern 'development day' (where we rock-climbed and did other activities), our BBQ and presentation training days were going to be. Similarly, we were all allocated a manager who contacted us prior to the placement starting, a graduate 'buddy' to help us out along the way, and a company laptop and phone which were all super helpful in ensuring we fit right in and settled in as soon as possible,

The company was really good at ensuring that we received the most out of the internship. Not only did they pay for travel to different events and offices to help us learn more about the company (including a day out with a smart engineer visiting different houses!), but they also put on extra development sessions such as one based on Excel and a public speaking workshop, to give us extra skills in areas which will benefit us in our role and in the future.

Future employment prospects within the organisation are quite appealing. We were given lots of opportunities to network with graduates during our time here so we have been able to find out a lot about what future employment might look like. It is especially appealing as following our presentations at the end of our internship the company offer out grad jobs to those they believe have done well in their role- this skips you through the whole application process which would otherwise be quite lengthy.

The social scene amongst fellow placement students was particularly good and fun. This was mainly because during the placement Centrica pays for your accommodation and bases all of the interns in halls together. As my placement was in Windsor I was put in halls at royal Holloway university with around 40 other interns, placed in flats of 8 people. At first I was worried I wouldn't get along with all of them but we had such a great time chilling in evenings and Friday nights, so it was great.

Living in egham, which is where the university is based, was very much basic. There wasn't much to do I the immediate area itself, which made the cost of living a little bit more expensive if you're having to rely on public transport, but food, drinks and pubs were pretty much standard for London suburbs (so a bit more expensive than usual for those from the countryside, but as someone from North London, was very much the usual).

Nightlife in Egham itself was pretty much non-existent. In the halls itself all the interns would either have flat drinks (which was fun) or head into Windsor for a night out. Windsor itself was quite fun, however it was also quite pricey. Cabs would cost around £5 each, each way, entrance around £10 each and drinks in the club were equally as expensive.

There were some opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. The offices themselves have subsidised gym membership, and table tennis tournaments after work on certain days. Alongside this I think there were also some football matches going on, as well as a gym and multiple gym glasses lots of interns went to in our accommodation.