Systems Analyst Review

Over the past ten weeks working with British Gas in Leeds, I've had a wonderful, insightful and enjoyable experience! I have learnt and developed a lot and feel lucky to have been placed with such a welcoming team. Due to the recent reorganisation of the company and many transitions have not yet been properly embedded, it was a challenge to figure where I fit and also who to contact for support. As I am a reserved character, this was initially difficult for me to overcome but overall has been highly beneficial in my learning experience and pushed me out of my comfort zone for the better.

I felt my immediate team were very welcoming and supportive if I requested help, however as everyone was so busy working on their own tasks I felt I a bit lost to begin with. As time went on and I became more inquisitive, I got more involved with tasks. The times I felt valued the most were when I got stuck into a project and was given responsibility and control. Particularly within a communication project where I was given key roles to ask questions, gather and analyse information then feedback this back to senior management, including the managing director. My colleagues had recognised my work and appreciated my support as they also had busy workloads. However, as the majority of my immediate team were preoccupied with their own work, there were times I did not feel valued - perhaps because I could not contribute to their projects.

I understand to a degree I had to work independently and find my own feet but feel that there was a lack of basic support throughout my placement. My line manager went on annual leave during my first couple of weeks and had not left adequate support or training for me. When she returned, she was extremely busy catching up on projects and her excessive workload, resulting in limited support or direction on my current work. Later in my placement, my line manager was off sick for a week and following that was out of the office a lot. Part of this is on me as I didn't utilise the support of my other colleagues until later in my placement. One of the managers in my virtual team at the other site was extremely supportive when I engaged with her mid-way through my placement, arranging phone calls with me, getting me involved in projects and helping me with any difficulties in my placement. As I was based in Leeds, there was also a lack of support from those who organised the internships, in comparison to the support provided to those altogether in Windsor - perhaps improving the support network for interns based up north is an area for consideration!

Throughout my entire placement, I was never sat bored - there was always something to do! To begin with I wasn't too busy as my line manager was on annual leave and from the two projects I was set, one we were waiting for a decision to be made on senior level before we could proceed, and the other project I was analysing data but was then waiting upon my colleague to help me proceed with the next stage. As time went on, I began juggling three objectives and the charity challenge so soon became busier (almost overloaded with work for a good couple of weeks)! I believe I could've pushed myself forward and volunteered to take on greater roles much earlier on in my placement to get further involved.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility throughout my placement. To start off with, I was given a large amount of data and left to my own methods to manipulate the data to reach the desired outcome. From this, my work was taken on trust as the foundations of the next stage of the project. Throughout my communication and engagement projects, I was given great amounts of responsibility. I was asked to improve communication within my immediate team and the Resource Planning Leadership team but was left to mould this as I saw fit! Consequently, I set individual meetings followed by presentations/discussions before finally implementing the beginnings of a communication strategy with details left for after I leave. I also joined The Challenge which aimed to improve communication and engagement throughout the whole of Resource Planning. Within this, I was given responsibility to create powerpoint slides to provide a high level summary of survey results from the whole department and my findings from the Leadership team. These slides were then added to presentation packs delivered to the Managing Director and wider department.

I have learnt to be more proactive within my actions and to hit the ground running to utilise my time. This is applicable heading into my third year at university studying maths as it is my most important year to date. Furthermore, I have continued to develop being an independent learner which is key for my future studies, but I have also built upon my team working and collaboration skills which is a core requirement for future jobs and useful life skills in general. As this was my first professional work experience, I have gained great insight into Centrica and working life as well as learning about the importance of reflection - all ideas I can apply and work upon in my next professional work. Going forwards, I believe I can utilise the resources at my disposal further to maximise the opportunities for developing my skills and training.

As I was based in the call centre in Leeds, the atmosphere in my office was very different compared to Windsor. It was more noisy than I expected but everyone was extremely friendly! The positive atmosphere in the office ensured the day would go much quicker. Also, there is always some form of event going on in the canteen, whether it's a sweet sale or perfume or having a picture with a giant Wilbur! There are also fun little office activities, for instance a football predictor game and I have also taken part in office bingo and was lucky enough to win a line! :)

I believe the placement needed much better organisation for where I was based. From the perspective of key dates for all the interns - so inductions, excel training, presentation training workshops, etc - these were very well organised as we were given plenty of notice and full details of each event which was important for me as I had to arrange travel down to Windsor! I also appreciate for the majority of events we were provided accommodation at RHUL. However, from the perspective of my work, I feel it was a little disorganised as my objectives were very much stopping and starting for the first few weeks - although this was partly due to the changeable nature of business and priorities out of our control! I feel there could have been a better training system in place to support my role. A lot of these issues were due to business nature and the recent reorganisation so cannot be helped, but as my team was newly formed and many members still rather unexperienced, I think careful consideration is required when deciding where to place an intern. Moreover, from what I've heard I don't think there has been an intern in this department in Leeds for a few years so processes may be rusty.

The company showed a keen interest in developing our skills and their desire for us to add fresh ideas and value to the business. Through the various trips and events held at Windsor (excel training, development day, presentation training workshop), Centrica was clearly investing in us to maximise our development and as a result, encouraged our investment in them for a future career. Depending on which department and manager you were placed with, the training and development would vary. Personally, I didn't receive excessive amounts of training but my team was quite good in explaining the meaning behind different projects and taking the time to explain various systems to me. Due to the many challenges I faced within my internship, I feel as if I have greatly developed as a character and my awareness of working life.

Very appealing! The organisation is so wide spread and varied so there's many opportunities! As I am still uncertain of which path I want to follow, the prospect of experiencing different avenues is very appealing. The grad scheme is very attractive as three rotations would provide me with experience in three different sectors, in addition to my experience from the summer placement. This would enable me to actively experience various roles which would provide me with a better idea of where I wish to take my career moving forwards. The company is also quite good in giving people the opportunity to switch streams/functions entirely, thus keeping all options open for employees. Furthermore, one of my colleagues is currently in my team on secondment for 12 months which again reflects another option to experience different areas of the business.

I believe the social scene in Windsor was very good as 40 out of the 60 interns were based in RHUL together. As I was based up north in Leeds with two fellow interns there was a lesser social scene. I was very happy to be placed with other interns going through the same experiences as me! Although there was only three of us, we got on very well and went out for food and activities such as walking along the Ilkley Moors. As we were based in Liberty Park, we were placed in a flat which can hold five - so we had two additional flatmates who were either on summer placements or a year in industry. I became quite good friends with one of them and learnt about his experiences with a different company. I have really enjoyed my time based in Leeds and getting to know my fellow interns and flatmates and am grateful for the new friendships I have made!

I think of Leeds as a miniature version of Manchester! Our accommodation was paid for (thank you very much Centrica!) so this took off any pressure or worries of rent. We were based only a 10/15 minute walk from the city centre so fantastic location! Leeds contains pretty much anything you would need so there was always somewhere affordable such as wetherspoons or Aldi! Leeds provided the balance of cheap affordable areas but also more expensive snazzy areas if you wished to attend an elegant establishment or little hidden niche gems...so there really is something for everyone.

Leeds provided an interesting nightlife! Unfortunately I was not able to experience much of this but I can say I'll definitely be coming back to visit! There are various pubs, cocktail bars, etc. throughout town and clubs with different genres/themes/music. As someone new to Leeds, I wouldn't have known where to start if it wasn't for one of my fellow interns who already studies in Leeds! My colleagues at work were really informative about good areas to go for food and drink. I never got round to looking at it but was told a website called Leeds List was really useful describing events and handy places to visit within the city.

I didn't hear about many opportunities to get involved of activities outside of work. In the Windsor offices, I heard talk of friendly football games being organised between colleagues - something applicable to any office! As Centrica supports Shelter as it's main chosen Charity, I was able to get involved in Charity activities which supported our Charity challenge (part of the internship). The volunteering portal gave the opportunity to get involved with lots of different activities, both during and out of work hours. I would have liked to hear about additional activities outside of work as this may have been beneficial for me to meet more people - particularly some people around my own age. If there are already activities going on, I think they need to better advertised!