HR intern Review

I have really enjoyed my 10 week internship at Aberdeen Standard Investments. I feel the support I have received from the intern programme has been excellent and they really tailored it to our development needs. The placements have been varied and challenging and I feel I have really contributed to important pieces of work whilst I have been here.

I feel I have been valued during my internship at Aberdeen Standard Investments. The work I have been involved in has had a large impact on the business and so I feel I have gained respect for how much I have achieved and how quickly key objectives were met. Everyone I have met and worked with over the internship have been a delight and have supported me greatly to achieve my objectives. My two managers have been supportive both professionally and personally which has been great during an intense 10 week programme.

I was given the necessary support when I first started the role to build my business knowledge and get started with the projects. I have been able to ask for support or guidance on the work I have been completing, but I have preferred to try and get on with it before asking for any advice. This has allowed me to follow my own take on the work I have been completing, but ensuring it is accurate and of value by having my managers or other employees review it.

I have been very busy most days as I have had demanding deadlines and a high workload. Day to day changed depending on deadlines and often other employee's holidays who I needed advice from. On the average day I feel my workload has been demanding but manageable. For a two week period I feel it was really increased and I had to work further additional hours to manage it, which was quite stressful.

I feel I was given a high level of responsibility within my placement as I worked on two important projects of setting up a new office and writing and implementing a new group wide policy. I was left to use my own initiative and meet with many key stakeholders and business leaders which was challenging but also really rewarding in being able to own pieces of work like this.

I feel the skills I have developed will assist me in future roles and as the whole internship has been a great development experience. I have been given a high level of responsibility and faced some challenges along the way which I feel has given me great work experience. I hope to find a future career in Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Office environment was very busy but really enjoyable. There was often a buzz in the air which was really motivational when completing work for tight deadlines. Everyone had a high workload, but were always willing to take time to help anyone who needed it. It was a really nice atmosphere to work in.

The overall internship was organised well from an intern cohort perspective. There were weekly objectives set for us which focussed our development on a specific aspect for the week. I found this really useful for ensuring I took time to work on my professional development. The individual schemes were organised to different extents, with some receiving more or less than others. Consistency across schemes would have been better.

We were able to attend a few different sessions including a presentation skills session and two different working style and communication sessions. I found these really useful in bringing us interns together and being able to highlight our strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. This was beneficial in our development throughout the internship.

There is the opportunity to get onto a graduate programme at the end of the internship, however the number of positions available vary from scheme to scheme. The intern opportunity has been excellent at opening doors for us and enabling us interns to meet with many individuals within our departments and our wider business.

Yes, the social atmosphere was really good throughout the internship. With many of the individuals from many different places, a lot of the interns stayed within serviced accommodation which made for a great place to meet each other and hang out. Going out after work on a Friday became a regular occurrence which was great to unwind after work.

I live near to where my internship was so the cost of living was the same as usual for me. Being in the centre of Edinburgh, the cost is rather high but we were able to find some good places to go and often there was the added bonus of company discount.

Nightlife in Edinburgh is always good, especially when the festival is on.

There were some opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work, but it would have been nice to do more. I was hoping to use one of my volunteering days, however the opportunity was not possible. Other than the social activities, there were not many work opportunities for us.