Software Procurement Review

I was placed for 10 weeks in software procurement and was very happy with the level of support and responsibility given to all the interns. There were also lots of great opportunities to learn about the different business areas such as on the Customer Safari, and various other networking events put on throughout the summer.

I immediately felt welcomed by all members of my team, who were all very accommodating and eager to include me on the different projects they're working on. Networking and learning about the different business areas are encouraged, and it was useful to receive feedback on different pieces of work done.

I had weekly informal meetings with my line manager and other colleagues whom I was working for, where we went through the projects I've been involved and discussed further steps for it. I felt comfortable enough to ask for support and guidance whenever needed, and generally found people eager to help.

Due to the nature of the stream, a fair share of the work I did was dependent on replies from various stakeholders so it was a mix. However, I was able to attend supplier negotiations, as well as internal conversations between different business functions. Getting to visit the different offices and business units was a pro.

I was given a variety of projects to be in charge of, with differing turnover rates, which gave me exposure and developed different skill sets. In software, I was in charge of renewals, RFIs as well as looking through Non-Disclosure Agreements and T&Cs for different software companies which I found interesting.

I think that one has to use a wide range of skills in procurement, especially with end-to-end management. Critical analysis, negotiation and interpersonal skills were developed along with training sessions for excel (which I found really useful as it's not something I use frequently at uni), or customer insight training for the customer safari.

My line manager was great at keeping a fun but productive atmosphere in our office. The team went for lunch together pretty much every day and there was good opportunity to mingle with the other teams on the floor too. Everyone was chatty, which made it a great place to work in.

I felt that the logistics and organization of the work placement by HR as well as the Graduate Talent team was great. Most aspects of the internship was well thought out - from accommodation to social events, as well as travel to and from the intern development day at Brunel University.

I liked how all interns were encouraged to get to know the entire business, and how approachable all business units were if the interns wanted to hear a bit more about a unit that they weren't placed in. Hive is a particularly attractive part of the business to be involved in as it seems to be very agile.

It was definitely a great idea to house all the summer placements at Royal Holloway University, as well as mixing different streams in the flats so that we can get to know summer placements on other streams too and see how they found the work in their streams. The grads on procurements were all super friendly and invited us to their socials.

Student friendly

Definitely student friendly, but getting to London or Windsor for bigger events did cost more than it would at Uni. We mostly went to Windsor for nights out and Staines also had great restaurants like Turtle Bay, Nandos etc. Clubs were a good mix of locals and tourists which was fun.

My stream organised an outing to the Windsor races, as well as payday drinks in the Staines area.