Analyst Review

Everything was very well organised and I was given 4 projects to complete and started work on my second day. Most of the work I was set was interesting and I learnt a lot about the energy sector. I had full responsibility on the work I was doing which was great although the majority was independent and I had limited opportunity to work in a team. The other interns were all great and the social side was a definite highlight.

My colleagues were all interested in me and what I was doing and happy to take time out of their day to have a chat and explain what they did. As most of my work was independent I perhaps didn't feel as valued as I would have done if I had been working in a team.

My line manager was not based in the office I was working in which naturally meant it was a bit harder to build a proper relationship with them. That said, she made every effort to ensure I was doing well with emails and weekly calls. I also had the other interns, graduates and my buddy to ask for help if I needed it.

I definitely had a lot to do although at times it did become repetitive. I worked most days from about 8:45 to 5 with an hour for lunch. Occasionally, I had to stay later for meetings/calls and the latest I left was 6:30. I was never left just sitting at my desk with nothing to do.

I was in complete control of 2 out of my 4 tasks and in the other 2 I assumed a lead role in carrying them out. In one, my line manager gave me the chief responsibility for organising an international project with her onside to help me out when I needed it.

There were excel and presentation training days which were pretty good, the development day was a bit of a waste of time though. I definitely developed my self-awareness and business confidence / communication just by working in an office for 10 weeks. Hopefully, this will help me in the future.

There was quite a relaxed atmosphere in the Windsor office that I worked in. People regularly chat with their colleagues sat around them but there was still a feeling that a lot of work was getting done. Chatting to other interns I think this was fairly representative of the wider company.

Everything was set up to a very high standard. Things like laptops, phones, emails were all set up and ready to use. The intern wide events like inductions and development days were well run. The only downside was lack of passes which meant that every day for the first 2 weeks we had to manually sign in and get a temporary pass. This was very tedious.

There were two training events: excel training and presentation training. The excel training was a bit slow for me but understandable given the wide range of experience of the interns present. The presentation training was good and certainly made me think about things I was not aware of before. Besides that there was no specific training.

Not quite finished my internship at Centrica yet but the impression I have got is that you have a very good chance of getting a spot on the graduate programme if you want it. The graduate programme seems well run and the grads are well respected in the organisation. Centrica is large enough that there will always be opportunities.

All of the other interns were very nice and easy to get on with. All of the Windsor and Staines interns live together - roughly 40 people. I also had 3 other analyst interns who worked near me and we would all have lunch together. We probably went out every Friday night together in Windsor and did occasional other activities like pub, quizzes, tennis etc.

The accommodation is free and paid for by Centrica. There is a nearby Tesco 15 minutes walk away which is pretty standard. The pubs are quite reasonable and other activities were cheap. Windsor is about a 20 minute drive from Royal Holloway uni where you live and if you don't have a car and can't get a lift with someone I imagine the cost of the train could add up quickly.

Had some good nights out with the other interns in Windsor. You have to get a taxi to and from the clubs which is a bit of a pain. London is only a 30 minute train away and given I live in London I also went home at weekends to go out with friends.

Activities outside of work are fully the responsibility of the interns - Centrica does not organise anything else. We organised a quiz night, awards night and weekend trips to Thorpe park etc. It really is necessary to have a car to do a lot of things at the weekend. Overall good.