Consumer Products Uk and Nordics Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed working for Mattel in their Maidenhead office. Whilst sometimes a change in environment going from university studies to a full time office job can bring new challenges, everything I learnt over the year has helped me massively and will be invaluable to me when searching for a graduate job.

I felt very highly valued by my colleagues, I was given a lot of responsibility and from that, a lot of acknowledgement for the tasks I was doing. I could not have asked for a more supportive team and they genuinely did feel like my family for the year I was there.

My manager was incredibly helpful at giving my not only advice for the intern role, but also future career advice, such as helping me to build my CV in a professional manner, and ensuring I was fully prepped for searching for graduate jobs.

With any job at times workload can feel stressful, however these times teach you essential prioritisation and time management skills, and I never once felt over worked or like I couldn't ask for help or time extensions.

I wouldn't say I was 'running the show' however when I spoke to peers about how much responsibility they had, comparatively Mattel seemed to offer a lot more, and put a lot of trust in their interns. I appreciated this greatly as it gave us the opportunity to thrive and take on large challenges, but also to learn from our mistakes early on and prepare us for graduate roles more thoroughly.

The skills I have learnt this year have undoubtedly helped me for my final year at uni. My time management and self discipline is higher than before, and clearly all the skills I am able to put down on my CV will help me secure a graduate job and pick up things much more quickly than if I had not done a placement.

There was a good atmosphere in the office with the occasional boom co gun fight.

The internship was very well set up - we got the opportunity to visit our creative agency which allowed a great insight into how they work, as well as other opportunities such as team events and specific toy industry trade shows.

The firm invested in us a lot, which considering they don't offer specific graduate schemes is very generous.

As Mattel don't offer graduate schemes it is hard to tell if I would return to the organisation, however I would not turn down an opportunity should one arise as I believe it is an amazing company to work for.

The placement group were very close, and the social side of the company was also very good.

Maidenhead is an expensive place to live in general as part of Berkshire, however some of the surrounding areas were a lot cheaper such as Slough and Wokingham.

In Reading and Slough etc there was more of a nightlife than specifically in Maidenhead.

Yes there were many opportunities to get involved in charity activities, social committees and numerous events put on for Mattel staff.