Global Consumer Marketing Manager Intern Review

An insightful and fun filled year. I enjoyed every aspect of the role I was in and was able to meet some incredible people, attend amazing events, and most importantly network with companies I never thought I'd get a chance to encounter. Microsoft have a huge support system and their growth mindset culture means almost everyone is willing to help you to learn and develop.

All of my team were so welcoming at the start of my internship and anything I was unsure about was always answered. My colleagues both in the UK and abroad were truly grateful for the work I did and the contributions I made throughout my year and I was sad to say goodbye to them.

Although my manager worked from a different country, we still had regular communication via Skype. This was difficult at times, especially through difficult work situations and during stressful periods. One thing I did gain most was the career development planning that my manger guided me through, this has helped to give me more of an idea about where I should focus my efforts and area's in which I can improve upon.

No day was ever the same, you are mainly in control of your workload. If there was ever too much work I would shout and if I needed more I would simply communicate with my colleagues either in the UK or abroad for a project/marketing initiative that I could get involved in.

My manager treated me like a full time employee from the get go. There was no introductory period where he expected less from me and this was good because no only did it put me in the deep end, but it also made me take ownership. I was in the hot seat and if I didn't deliver then I had myself to blame, this was a huge learning for me during my placement as it meant that if I did a good job when given responsibility, I would be trusted to manage and oversee more projects, giving me greater exposure and more experience. It was a win win.

I have come back to University feeling like a completely different person after my placement year. I have a whole new mindset and approach to my studying/working, I am more organised, systematic, rational and can take a better approach to planning when given assignments. The skills I have developed over this year in industry have been invaluable and ones in which I will carry further into my future careers.

In the office a lot of people are in very senior positions and even those who don't have a very good work ethic. People work very hard and are on calls a lot, however the atmosphere was never dull. Networking and colleague conversation drove a lot of laughs in the office so there was rarely a time where the office was silent.

The internship was well structured and we had several points throughout the year where all the interns would get together for either some training or team building. There was also times throughout the year where our placement co-ordinator would block out a whole day for us to book 1:1's with her to discuss how we were getting on.

The training we received from our previous interns was very thorough although some interns did not have a handover. In those cases it meant that picking up the job took much longer and there was less support however in my case I was fortunate enough not to experience this. There could have been some more training and workshops given specifically for interns for learning and development purposes I think e.g. compulsory days that all interns should attend.

I definitely consider Microsoft to be in one of my top go-to places for future employment and graduate opportunities. There are limited marketing roles for graduates which is a shame but other departments like sales have much more bandwidth to take on graduates so starting here and transitioning to other departments may be possible for someone who isn't sure what they'd like to go into.

Being based outside the headquarters meant that there were only a few interns to socialise with on a day to day and as everyone has their own roles and teams it makes it even harder. I think if there was more training/compulsory development activities organised for all of the interns then there would be increased socialisation between the two different locations.

Very expensive to live in central London. Socialising was really fun however we weren't able to do it all of the time due to the expense. The cost of living was also very expensive but it was outweighed by the great experience.

There were loads of bars and clubs around where we lived/worked so there was always the opportunity to have a fun evening, especially after work with colleagues.

There wasn't an awful lot to do aside from socialising on the odd evening with colleagues. I know for boys the was a football society/team that you could join who met once a week and had the opportunity to go to Athens. It would be good if more of these teams/trips were setup.