Summer Intern Review

The placement at GVC Holdings was a smooth experience into the world of Finance. I enjoyed working alongside hardworking, financial professionals as well as being managed by professionals. HR was helpful in making sure that the interns had a good time at the internship, done by booking things such as Crystal Maze experience, Go Karting, and various drinks and networking opportunities.

Working alongside the colleagues was the best part of the internship. I had a great team supporting me throughout my time in GVC, and they were always on hand to help me with my work and my experience in the offices. I learnt the most from the colleagues, who taught me a diverse range of skills, most importantly the use of Excel.

Whilst my management was on hand for support and guidance, I felt like my colleagues were a lot more knowledgeable and had more command over the use of Excel and other software as compared to the managers. Often I was given a long winded answer by the manager who did not know the true way the things are working, I felt, and this opinion was resonated by a range of employees. That being said, the support on hand was always available, but I cannot comment about the usefulness of this support.

I never knew what I would be working on until the day, and even then I would not be doing things that were incredibly useful to the organisation. That meant that I had a lot of spare time and often got bored in the day. Even if I was to walk around, my manager would not know nor care.

In the time I was provided with work, it varied with the importance of it. Near the end of my internship, as you'd expect, I was able to take part in more important work that was relevant to the organisation. At this point, my skills were recognised and I was taking part in work that was important to the managers and directly relevant to senior leaders, which was a pleasure to work on.

The skills I have developed will be very useful in the near future for me. I have learnt many transferable skills, with the use of special software and key shortcuts being the main things I have learnt. I can very easily apply these to different fields in the future, especially in the process of data analysis.

The atmosphere in the office was always fun. I never felt like I was intimidated by anyone and my colleagues and people around me from other departments were always friendly and helpful. The conversations that I shared with the people from other departments were insightful and I am very fortunate I got to speak to so many different people in a great, informal environment.

Whilst a lot of effort went into the internship, I do not think that the internship was set up well. It included a lot of things to do in the internship, such as meeting senior leaders and 'lunch and learns' as well as a project overall. The managers on the other hand did not seem to be aware of other commitments, and I would often feel guilty skipping out on either side; either my departments work could be completed or the side projects. I think communication is an important issue that GVC needs to work on, and make sure that the interns have a clear plan of what to do, at the least the managers know.

GVC Holdings invested a lot into the interns. We took part in many different activities that were incredibly important for our personal development, such as 'personal impact training' with Deborah Francis-White.We had team coaching skills, as well as being able to meet the CEO and HR Directors. Finally, we had e-skills learning always available on hand. I cannot fault HR or GVC Holdings on this.

I would like to come back to GVC holdings, and would recommend it to a potential employee.

Fellow colleagues and students were always up to hand around with the interns and managers. After a day of work there was always an opportunity to go out for drinks with support staff and managers, and you would often have more than one invite to hang with others and have to reject a few (unfortunately!) The atmosphere was great and I definitely would recommend it.

It is in East London so it was definitely in the middle for costs.

The nightlife was good and there are plenty of bars to go and enjoy.

There were a few activities to take part in, and being right next to westfield is always a bonus.