Commercial Europe Finance Intern Review

My thirteen-month placement at Travelport has been an extremely valuable experience which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I have learnt and developed so much on both a personal and professional level. Throughout my placement, I was given many challenges and a lot of responsibility. The culture at Travelport was great and employees were so supportive, kind and friendly.

Throughout my placement, I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. I had a great amount of responsibility and my colleagues relied on me to deliver my tasks including ad hoc. Understanding the purpose of my tasks was really important as once reports were delivered to colleagues, I felt more valued as I knew how I impacted the company. I communicated with numerous colleagues from all over the company and they were always happy to answer any questions.

Throughout my placement year, I was given so much support and guidance by my manager. I had weekly 1-2-1 meetings which were extremely useful and was challenged throughout the year to push myself and gain the most out of my thirteen months. Travelport also had a mentor scheme which was also very useful for my professional development.

Throughout this placement year, I was very busy on a daily basis as I had a lot of responsibility. This was great as I had a lot of work to do to for my team and colleagues throughout the business so kept me busy and active. I was extremely busy during the budget cycle but generally, managed to complete my tasks by the end of the working day.

I was given so much responsibility during my placement year and far more than I had initially expected. The amount of responsibility increased throughout the year which was great. I had quite a lot of responsibility during each month-end reporting process and the budget cycle, as well as ad hoc for my team and internal customers such as country managers.

I think that the skills I have developed and the training received will greatly assist my degree and beyond as I have become much more focussed, determined and hard working. I have greatly increased my interpersonal and professional skills and working in the business environment has definitely helped improve my time management and flexibility. I also feel that my communication skills have significantly improved over the year which will greatly assist me in future.

I felt that the atmosphere in the office was great and I really liked it. Everyone was so friendly, kind and happy to help. My team were also very talkative which was great. I think the atmosphere is slightly different on each floor and some people work from home, however throughout the year, I thought the atmosphere was great.

I thought that the work placement overall was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was set up very well and in a way that the interns got so much responsibility and exposure to senior members in the company. Each intern role was different but there were so many development sessions which I thought were very useful and interactive. This work placement was well organised and even had a mentor scheme which aided in their development.

Travelport had a Homeport which had many training sessions and upon arrival, had on-boarding activities to get familiar with the business. There was also a three-week handover period from the previous intern to transfer all roles and responsibilities. I felt that three weeks was a good amount of time spent on handover! Travelport also had a lot of intern development sessions, as well as finance sessions. I think that Travelport did invest in the interns quite a lot with regards to training and development.

Travelport do not have a graduate scheme at the moment, however, if this was put in place, the future employment prospects within the organisation would be more appealing. I would definitely want to come back to work for Travelport. If an intern is outstanding, they may be offered a job after graduation depending on the manager and vacancies.

The interns would regularly organise social activities within the intern group. There is also a social club that you pay £2 a month for and can go to events like go karting and cirque du soleil if enough people are interested in going.

I did not live in Slough but I have heard the cost of living was fairly average. It is not as expensive as London but more expensive than university. The pubs and restaurants around Slough are average price and quite local to the Travelport office.

As I commuted, I was unable to see the nightlife that often, however team work events were either in Windsor or London. The interns usually went out in Reading or London.

Travelport had a football team that played every Tuesday which was a great way for employees to interact on different band levels around the company. The business also had a social club which had discounted events such as go-karting, boat parties and cirque du soleil. There was also a golf club around the corner from the Langley office.