Commercial Analyst Review

I enjoyed working within a team, although it was difficult at times as most of the team were offshore or worked from home, so there was not much of an office community. This made me feel isolated at times. However my manager was great and I got on well with the team I worked with, and there were lots of opportunities to do things outside of my role which I enjoyed, such as going to local schools and being a mentor.

I felt that my colleagues always appreciated the work I did, and expressed gratitude for things I did. At times my work load was low and even after reaching out to colleagues, they had no further work for me to do which affected my motivation. But as a team they were really good to work with and made me feel like an important part of the team, not "just an intern".

My task manager was really supportive and always gave lots of time to help me and work with me, and was happy to answer any questions and help me resolve issues even if they were areas she didn't usually work in. She was more of a mentor than a manager and really helped me grow my professional skills.

There were times when I was busy, but this was because I'd seek out other things to do outside of my role. Because the account I worked on had got smaller, there wasn't really enough work for me to do on regular occasions. I felt that this did affect my motivation because when I started, I would want to complete my tasks quickly and efficiently, however by the end of my placement I would purposely do things slowly to fill the time which is not a thing I am proud of.

I was given responsibility in the pricing I was doing and I was a key part in developing a new process where I was given quite a lot of responsibility. However, I was not allowed to do certain approvals and submissions, but this was mainly because of incidents that had happened with previous interns, but this was frustrating at times as I had to rely and wait on others a lot.

I think I grew a lot of confidence in terms of communication, networking and working in teams, which will help me in my future studies and after university when I want to start my own business. The training I received was quite specific to the role, however understanding the role of a commercial team and learning about finances and invoice reconciliation will help me when I start my own business to put together a realistic financial forecast.

The atmosphere was quiet because a lot of people work from home. However the people that did come in created a chatty, fun atmosphere. We would often go for short breaks taking walks or getting tea. It was not as lively as I was hoping an office environment would be.

The placement was well organised by IBM, we had a clear 2 day induction and a checkpoint journal to complete throughout the year, with review dates throughout. My handover was well organised, however there was not much preperation for me running out of work to do and I found myself bored at times.

My manager was really good and was more of a mentor to me, helping me with different skills. We had a couple of workshops on communication and presentation skills which were good, however there was nothing in the later half of the year. There was online resources but they weren't very engaging.

There are employment prospects but these do not appeal to me. Hearing that the number of graduate roles is decreasing is quite demotivating as it is getting harder and harder. I think if it is really what you want to do or if you are skilled in a particular field such as technology then there are opportunities there.

Not really, there was about 20 interns at my location but there wasn't much of a social scene. There were a lot more interns located in South Bank and from going there a few times, I feel there was a much better social scene there. So if that's what you're looking for then London is the place to go.

I lived with parents while on my placement. However, because of the location of my placement it is difficult to get to without a car. Costs of socializing are ok but you have to travel into the city centre. There is a cinema and restaurants close to the offices but they are not cheap.

The average drink would be £5-£8 on a night out and none of the clubs are free entry. There is a few good places to go out but again they aren't cheap on a Friday or Saturday, however there is a range so there's something for everyone. It is busier in term times than in the school holidays.

There weren't really any opportunities to get involved of activities outside of work. We did have an intern christmas party which was good fun, however we had to travel up to London as that is where most of the interns are based. There wasn't really any clubs or things to get involved in.