European Commercial Finance Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at Travelport. The work was varied, which kept it interesting as well as having tasks to take ownership of and report on on a monthly basis. The team and staff across the wider business were all extremely friendly and supportive. In addition to this, the placement scheme had approximately 20 students, meaning that there were lots of people to become friendly with.

During my time at Travelport I felt as though I was in a real position, whereby I was relied upon for the tasks within my job description as well as providing accurate and reliable information around any similar subjects. This was not just within the team that I worked in, but also within other teams. This also worked the other way, whereby if I needed to gain some information, staff were always happy to help.

My manager gave me support whenever I needed it, always taking the time to ensure that I fully understood tasks that I was undertaking and the value of these tasks. My manager also ensure that I got a variety of tasks in order to push myself on new and often harder analysis. Travelport also operates a mentor scheme, whereby regular meetings occur between the placement student and the mentor, ensuring that the student is happy with the work they are doing etc. and the mentor helps when it comes to looking to apply for graduate jobs after placement.

The vast majority of the time I was busy. This kept me occupied and encouraged me to push myself to work in a more efficient way. It also helped me to learn more about the role and the company. Although I was generally always busy, the vast majority of the time I was able to finish my work within the working day.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement, I provided important parts of the month end reporting process, as well as various ad hoc analysis to for various teams within the business, including staff working in different countries. I was also given the opportunity to build new reports and models that were of use to the business.

I developed a hard working ethic during my placement and I am applying this to my degree now. In terms of skills gained for after my studies, I developed my communication skills vastly by working with various different people across the business. I also considerably developed my technical computer based skills, such as Microsoft Excel. Finally, gaining great exposure to important work has taught me how to work under pressure and how to manage time effectively.

The atmosphere was generally very good where I worked, most people were talkative and friendly. However in some areas of the office where people work from home often, it was perhaps a little quieter.

The placement was very well organised. There was a clear plan in place throughout the year. This included many different intern sessions whereby we would learn more about different departments in the business, how the business works and also sessions to help us with our future, such as linkedin help, CV advice etc. With the addition of the mentor programme and regular mentor meetings, the set up was very well organised and ensured that we were always happy in our roles.

Upon starting, there was a three week handover period, for which the previous interns showed us the basics of the role. We were also provided with various online courses to help build our skills on Microsoft excel as well as internal courses to educate us on ethics and compliance policies. With the monthly intern sessions we always gained more knowledge about the business and were provided with help for our future prospects upon nearing the completion of our placements. Finally, my manager invested a lot of time by getting my involved with their work and supporting me whenever needed..

At Travelport there is no graduate scheme, however if an intern stands out during their placement year, then they may be offered a position, or considered for future vacancies within the company. It appears as though this is starting to be more common, with several previous placement students returning to work at the company.

Yes, the placement students would regularly partake in social activities among each other. There were also lots of company events put on, such as a monthly social club activity (e.g. go-karting, theatre trip, comedy club etc.) and work events such as the Christmas party and team events.

Fairly average, the area was just outside of London, so it obviously was less expensive than working in London, however prices were still considerably more expensive than university, as you would expect.

The Nightlife was fairly scattered, work events generally occurred in Windsor, or sometimes London. However the placement students regularly went out in Uxbridge where a lot of the placement students were based.

There were lots of activities to get involved in, the social club operated a monthly discounted activity such as go-karting, theatre, comedy clubs etc. There was also football played every week in Slough. Both of these were good opportunities to meet colleagues around the business.