Contractor Review

I enjoyed my internship to an extent; I was very happy to have the opportunity to expand my horizons and network with colleagues and other interns - I have made some great new friends. Learning to use Excel, for example, may also so prove to be useful in future. I found that some things, such as the location of my accommodation made life more difficult, as the bus fair was extremely costly and the location was very isolating, since it was so far from the city centre, however the year before the interns had been located centrally. The work environment was friendly, however I do feel that my internship did not reflect the skill set I had outlined on my application, and this made it difficult to engage well with tasks at times, since I would have been better suited to a client-facing environment. I also felt a lot of pressure for a task I did not feel that well supported on, whilst other interns had no pressure (I was glad to busy in comparison as this is far more enjoyable and useful to me), but they also had more opportunities to network, something I was keen to do since I was not in an area which reflected my future career interests or skill set. I was not at all supported in my networking, having to do all my research myself with no contacts, but I found that people in other teams were set up with weekly shadowings in the area I want to go in to, and I was disappointed my team did not offer me the same opportunities. I enjoyed the challenge based on my area, however my group was completely disengaged in the charity challenge, and so made it a frustrating and stressful experience. There ought to have been a regional collective sum of money, as the competitiveness between teams in the same office overshadowed the general goal (raising money for MHUK) and made certain individuals a little unpleasant, and made organizing events and actually raising money for the charity more difficult. Overall, the internship was a great opportunity to experience the professional environment, but the task I was set towards the end was extremely difficult and made me feel very stressed everyday. The variety of experience amongst interns was apparent, with some going to other cities every week and shadowing regularly, whilst others spent most of my time at a desk despite wanting a client-facing role, and so it seemed that your experience was greatly dependent on the team you got.

The work environment was relatively friendly, although in the day there was quite a subdued atmosphere in comparison to other teams who had a more upbeat atmosphere. The first tasks I was set for practice were useful to learn Excel skills, but not needed by the team, and the final task I was set could be useful, but I did not have the support or knowledge to make it perfect.

Although we had several meetings, the final task I was set was very difficult, and even though I was told I could reach out for help, there was also the expectation that this was an independent task so I was in a bind. I ended up not having a buddy, as my buddy turned out to be my assessor and I also had two line managers, so work often felt very pressurizing. At the beginning there were days where I had very little to do, and towards the end I often felt confused with the difficult task, but my team did try to support me and made an effort to check in, which other interns did not experience.

This varied greatly. Towards the end, with all of the online training combined with the task I was set and the various challenges, I felt at times overworked with too many things to do; towards the beginning I had very little to do which made the day feel very long. Then I would have days where I would not have time for a lunch break due to all the calls I was put to listen in on . However overall, it was more balanced than not.

At the beginning, I had very little to do, but as the weeks drew on, the task set would affect everyone in the team, and so it felt very pressurizing to have such a task in such a short space of time. In general, I found that this made everything quite stressful.

The training I received was technical and related to the world of finance, which is not the career path I have chosen, and therefore was not that useful. Also, since I was not in a role which reflected my aspirations, the skills developed most likely will not be that useful. Having said that, transferrable skills such as communication and perseverance will.

Generally it was quite subdued; there was little interaction between teams, but everyone was respectful and friendly. In teams with more people of the same age, there seemed to be a very bubbly atmosphere, but I spent the majority of the day in silence at my desk which is less suited to my personality.

Some parts were well organized, and in general, everything ran smoothly, e.g,the weekly online activities and the accommodation allocation. However, others were not. The delay with finding out our placements, accommodation and challenges, the fact that I had absent line managers and no buddy was a bit confusing. Also, having no access to printing, at times no desk, computer, or a very old and slow laptop, temporary passes which took a while to collect and held up the day were all rather inconvenient.

There were lots of online training tasks to complete, but what I really needed was shadowing since I was not placed in my chosen area. However this was not provided, and I felt that since I was not able to properly utilise my skill set and was not in an area which I have a great passion for, I did not receive the relevant training that I had wanted.

Very appealing as there are a wide range of roles and opportunities. I would definitely consider working in a different area, however the not the one I was in as it was opposite of what I was generally looking for. This internship really helped me make clear in my mind what I wanted to do by showing me what I did not want to do.

This was incredible I honestly made some amazing friends. The accommodation made it difficult to socialise due to being so far and quite isolating, but I managed to make some lifelong friends amongst fellow interns. I would say that bringing together more of the interns would be a good idea (e.g. having shadowing afternoons), as I did not meet some of the interns who were quieter or did not live in the shared accommodation for a very long time.

Very expensive. I had thought I would be able to save money for my year abroad, however the fact that we were not reimbursed for an expensive bus fare which we had to buy to get to work everyday due to the distance of the accommodation already put a huge dent in my budget. The distance meant that going out was always expensive and a struggle, and this sometimes made me feel lonely and isolated as I felt so far from city life. There were cheap supermarkets nearby which was good, but the price of eating out was very expensive and I barely managed to save any money at all after going on nights out etc.

I had some of the best nights out of my life here, the night life is absolutely incredible - some of the clubs were empty and some nights out were a fail since the students weren't here, but I would definitely come back. However our accommodation was so far that people were less keen to go out since we would have to get an expensive taxi back on top of paying for the already extortionate bus fare required to get to work everyday.

I would say that since I was not from the city, it was easy to miss events, however if I looked on Facebook, there were often events to get involved in. I had a really good time in the city I was placed, since there is so much going on.