Tax assistant Review

My internship experience surpassed expectations, which has been great. I have had access to support throughout, from my team to my buddy. In addition, I feel Centrica has provided me with additional development opportunities such as Presentation skills session and Development day which greatly added to the experience.

I have felt really valued by my colleagues which again, was unexpected. I have felt much more than an intern, having been given real tasks that someone else in my team would have to complete in my absence. Everyone in my team has made me feel very welcome and always ready to listen to my opinion or answer my questions.

I have been given great support. From my line manager, to the graduate in my team and I have also met with my buddy a couple of times throughout the internship. I have also felt supported from the wider finance team, with people always willing to help and put time out of their day to speak and answer any questions.

My days varied, but on the whole I felt like I had at least one task to complete when I came in to work each day. My team were good at giving me both lengthy tasks in addition to slightly more ad hoc, shorter tasks. I made sure I asked for more if I found myself without anything to do.

I feel I was given the opportunity to take ownership of a few tasks. This was great as towards the beginning, I was able to consult my team on my work, but for example, I took ownership of submitting the tax cashflow weekly forecast to treasury each week. At the beginning, I was helped through this but after a few weeks, I was trusted to do this task on my own. I was also given the responsibility to make meetings where I thought necessary.

I have finished my degree but there are many skills that I have learnt in the past 10 weeks that I will carry forward. From just basic financial understanding, to developed excel skills. In addition I really valued presentation training and actually doing the presentation. This has built my confidence and taught me how to improve in public speaking and just general communication. I have also learnt how to affectively communicate in a business environment, something very useful for my future career.

I worked in the Windsor office for my 10 weeks. This was fairly formal but not too quiet or corporate. I felt like I could relax quite easily into it.

I think the placement has been organised well in so far as I came in on day one having known the team I was going to be working for, I had already connected with my manager over a phone call the previous week and so was eased in to the process. Apart from a few technical difficulties with laptops, the process seemed to go very smoothly and I felt that I was kept up to date with relevant issues and requirements.

I feel the company invested in me hugely. I think I feel this especially working in the finance stream as we had the opportunity to go to networking drinks and the live interim results. This was great for development as it gave us an opportunity to network with people from all finance areas and build our confidence. However, in addition to these, the company invested in presentation training, something that I found invaluable and also a development day which gave me the opportunity to work with interns from varied streams.

very appealing - I think the company has made a really good impression. The culture seems friendly and inclusive. the finance graduate team presents lots of challenges, but it seems that Centrica would be a great place to overcome these challenges as it provides a good support network and opportunity to learn.

Yes. I think living together at the Royal Holloway was a great experience. I think it made the whole internship a lot more enjoyable as all the interns were able to go back and socialise with each other outside a work environment. This was a great way to talk about work to interns from different streams and generally build a support network around you.

Inexpensive - since the accommodation was free, that eliminated a big cost. However, the only costly thing was travel. It relied on people either having cars or being able to find someone with a car. If we didn't, the bus was £6 per day. Otherwise, there was good access to reasonably priced supermarkets and shops.

Nightlife was limited. Since the Windsor office if not in a town, most people drive to work and therefor I think this limits after-work life slightly. There are minimal pubs and opportunities to go out near the office, it very much relies on travelling to somewhere.

There were opportunities to get involved in many charity/volunteering activities. If I was here for longer I would like to get involved in a sports team - something I am unsure if the office offers.