Finance intern Review

Working at headoffice provided opportunities to mix with other departments which was great and not always on offer with other placements. The team was very supportive and helpful and the training provided was what I had hoped for. I now feel more confident with my last year of uni. Being an international company meant I was speaking to people in Europe and the USA which was a good experience.

The immediate team I worked in did become like a family. We always had a laugh and made the difficult times easier. I knew I could always count on them for help and to cheer me up if I was having a rough day. Although I was an intern I don’t feel I was ever treated like one.

The management were quite involved with the team and were always there if anyone needed help or advice. Everyone had quarterly catch ups with the senior management to keep them involved with how we were doing and provided an opportunity to raise any concerns. My immediate manager was great and we got on very well which meant we made a great team.

In the accounting team we had a statement period which was the first 8-10 days of the month. This was when everything had to be done so there was always a lot to do then and many people ended up doing overtime. During the rest of the month it was much quieter but usually enough to fill the day.

Towards the beginning I didn’t have much to do as I settled in, but in the last 8-9 months I had a lot of responsibility. Myself and my manager were running a whole business unit which meant we were the main contacts at head office for the accounting. This came with a lot of work and people relying on us to get things right.

When I started the internship I didn’t fully understand debits and credits, a fundamental aspect of accounting! It wasn’t until I put it into practice over the year that I understood it. Going back for my final year I feel in a better position than my first 2 thanks to the internship.

There was around 60 people working on the same floor as myself which meant there was often noise and an atmosphere which was nice. My team were always laughing and joking which made the busy times more bearable. As the campus had around 400 people you would often bump into people you knew and have a quick chat.

Towards the beginning there wasn’t much for us to do as we started just before year end and everyone was very busy. We ended up doing lots of admin work for a while which was a bit boring but unavoidable. There was 11 interns who started together in different departments and they organised 2 events for us which was nice.

Each month we had development catch ups with our managers to discuss our progress and any training we needed or wanted. They always pushed us to develop ourselves and often helped organise anything we wanted to do next to improve. They encouraged developing ourselves in both work related training and things to improve our personal skills.

There is no guarantee of a job when I leave uni as there may not be space in the team. I think that’s why they haven’t got a high success rate of keeping employees who were interns. As many people apply for graduate roles quite soon after going back to uni, having to wait until closer to graduation to see if there is a role isn’t appealing.

6 of the other interns lived together so often had house parties and did things together which they invited the other interns to. There were also 2 events organised by enterprise in the year. Laser quest and Nando’s at the beginning and Thorpe Park at the end which was good.

Close to London means London prices. The price to rent ranges between 400-800 a month depending on how many others you live with. In Egham there is a Tesco, Waitrose and Iceland so good shopping is fairly reasonable. There are a few restaurants and pubs in Egham and they are average prices for the area.

There also isn’t much to do in Egham. There are plenty of restaurants and a few pubs so alright to go for lunch with colleagues or a drink after work but if you want to go out in the evening you would need to go to Windsor or into London.

There were different committees which you could get involved in such as charity and wellness being the main ones. The wellness committee often ran events after work or at lunch such as couch to 5K or run club and they ran yoga and Zumba for a while which was great fun!