Intern Review

I enjoyed it on the most part. I felt like I was given meaningful work, once again most of the time. The area I was placed into was not my first choice but it turned out to be a good thing for me and I'd do it again given the opportunity to do so.

My team specifically was very welcoming and tended to give me valuable work. Other interns had different experiences, so it's possible I got lucky on this matter. People valued my work and gave good insight into how to improve it. On the whole, I felt valued but sometimes felt that I wasn't quite being treated as an equal.

I frequently had meetings with my various seniors, both in my department and in the wider division. They often asked me how my work was going, how I needed support and how I could be pushed further as well as that. However, I feel that guidance could have been given earlier on to judge how to improve my internship ranking.

Day to day I spent the vast vast majority of my time with work, however from time to time I'd be waiting on things from other teams. I wouldn't say this was the fault of my team but the organisation in general for people failing to comply in a timely manner. I think certain teams in particular are slow to respond to emails and to assist people; especially junior members.

I was given a lot of responsibility from my team. I had the opportunity to chair meetings and present from a very early stage in the internship. I couldn't have asked for more on that front, but I feel like I may have been able to do some more difficult work. However, that may have been my perception of the work opposed to the actual difficulty of it.

I have had great experience of both stakeholder management and steering conversation. I think these are vital skills to have especially beyond my degree. After university, it doesn't seem to be the learning you did that counts but the soft skills that matter most like being able to direct a conversation.

It was a very relaxed office, which was a nice environment to be in. People were quite chatty and welcome to talk to interns. The wider teams seemed quite separate however and as if there wasn't much crossover between them. However, each team is quite big so this isn't an issue

The overall placement wasn't too well setup. The process for being placed into a team is sub-optimal and definitely needs work. A lot of interns didn't get the place they wanted or anything like it, and if they could have swapped they would have been happier than they were for the 10 weeks.

There were a lot of learning opportunities in our weekly learning development themes. They had links to articles and videos we could read and watch to help us to train more. There were also networking opportunities and lunch n learn sessions, which were to help develop both our soft and hard skills.

I think employment opportunities with the employer are good, however not necessarily for everyone. It can be a slow-paced company compared to many others, however I could definitely see myself working there one day. They weren't too forthcoming about the process for future employment prospects is the only negative I can say on the topic.

There was definitely a good social scene amongst other interns as we were all housed in the same building. however, this often left those who already lived in the area a bit of a downside as they weren't in the pre-formed groups that would walk to work and walk home together. Perhaps offering this accommodation to everyone would save them this issue, however at a significant cost.

Living was free, so I really can't make a complaint there. It made the chance to have the ability to save money whilst working. Socialising is expensive but that was to be expected in Central London - nothing can really be done about that so I'd have to rate it a 10 overall.

The nightlife was good, there are lots of local pubs and activities. However, as stated for the previous answer, in central London I don't think you can really have an issue with the nightlife. Intern nightlife was mostly focussed around going out and drinking alcohol which doesn't suit everyone.

There were lots of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. However, not really in my specific team. We only had one outside of work activity in the 10 weeks. I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to anyway so can't really complain about the lack of activities. I think most people would agree.