Finance and Operations Review

I felt I was unable to gain the experience I wanted from the year. Throughout, I felt rather constrained and trapped in a role that didn't enthuse me as much as I had hoped.

I had a high degree of autonomy with my work for the most part, being trusted enough to do the work given to acceptable standards although when my outputs became a higher focus for the business, there was a degree of micromanagement that felt a bit undermining.

My concerns and requests tended to be acknowledged however there was a distinct lack of action taken to address them. For example, in response to raising that I did not find my work interesting or stimulating I was told to simply "look less bored and disinterested"

I often found myself with a bit too much work, meaning I was unable to capitalise on opportunities to work with other departments to develop a well rounded experience.

I was given a high degree of responsibility on the most part, being generally the sole responsible person for my outputs.

Training days throughout the year gave valuable lessons in core business skills such as communication and presentations. Skills learnt through work such as data management and business systems will be useful in future although there was an overall lack of opportunity to learn new skills outside the job role.

Atmosphere was on the whole quite dull, there are few events or celebrations that go on inside the office nor any sort of communal spirit

While there were issues with the initial set up before and in the arrival to the company such as having limited IT access, there was a well planned training programme and an existing network of people for the interns to be supported through

There was a decent amount of investment with training days all over England, all fully paid for

There are opportunities all over the UK and Europe which are somewhat appealing although there are constraints on job opportunities outside of this (no opportunities for UK/EU students in any of the US or Far Eastern sites)

There was a general positive atmosphere between other interns although the divided layout of office spaces across the large site made socialising difficult

Rent is generally cheap considering situation in the south of England although high transport costs tended to counterbalance this

As it was situated between Portsmouth and Southampton there was a good access to nightlife although there was a sacrifice if you wanted to live in the city for a long commute.

There were a few sporting and outdoor clubs that are available as well as town hall style addresses by corporate directors that were held via web broadcast that you could watch when they occurred