Intern Review

I really enjoyed my placement year with Enterprise, there’s a lot to learn and you need to be committed to the role but it can be very rewarding. Remember to focus on your work and don’t let yourself get behind. There’s many aspects of the role and it can be easy to get behind with the work if you’re not persistent.

Whether you feel valued as part of the team can vary. The team will change frequently through the year and I have worked with many different people. Most of my colleagues have been great and I have become good friends with them, however like any job, you won’t get on with everyone and you’ll encounter difficult colleagues. This is part of life.

My branch manager was brilliant and helped coach me through the training folder as well as the year from start to finish, however my assistant managers were both patronising and could be stressed from the intensity of the role. You will encounter the stresses throughout the year but should realise that this is part of the role, no one leads you to believe it is an easy placement.

The business can vary drastically. If it is very quiet and there is little to do, the company will not find alternative tasks or send people home. Everyone must stay and endure the boredom. On extremely busy days you can find you are very short staffed and your shifts become longer than you expected and you work without adequate rest periods.

We are given a good amount of responsibility given the role type. The management expect a lot from you and will give the amount of support you need. This can sometimes lead to them taking advantage of your will to learn though and you may find you are overworked and handling roles you shouldn’t be.

The placement has taught me many skills including time management, communication skills, IT skills and many more which will inevitably help with my final year studies as well as my future employability. I hope that the skills I have learnt will be transferable and I can take them with me, either with or beyond Enterprise.

The atmosphere was often quite tense and you could find that the team can be very stressed out after a busy day, this can be rewarded though by team nights to relax and celebrate our hard work. This doesn’t help with the atmosphere whilst at work though as many people still find the high pace environment to be stressful and demanding.

The organisation of the placement year was brilliant from the recruitment process all the way through to the final shifts. Regardless of the work itself, the set up of the placement year and the training procedures put in place were well structured and helped me to complete the placement year smoothly.

The company gives you plentiful responsibility and chance to develop, but understands that you are a placement student at the same time. There is no pressure to undertake too much work on but at the same time they can offer more work if you want to progress quicker. This means you can go at your own pace and stride to success if you are willing.

The company offers many excellent promotion opportunities and encourages placement students to return after their studies to continue through the ranks to Assistant manager, branch manager, Area manager etc. This means that there is the option to come back and work your way through the company and if you want to take different routes then you can do.

There was a little amount of socialising between myself and other students from my university whilst on placement. This is due to geographical restrictions but nonetheless my placement team from Enterprise have all become good friends and will stay in touch for the future. This is something which has added a benefit to my placement year.

The cost of socialising isn’t that high in my area and there was many different options for me and my team to have varied social events. This really encourages us to take time out of work to relax and enjoy each other’s company, without worrying about the stresses of work.

The night life in our area is very mediocre and it is okay for a short while, however it has meant that we aren’t able to drink too much as we have work early most mornings and we are restricted as to what we can do and how often we can socialise.

There was a few options to get involved such as charity work which the company encouraged and helped set up. However this is difficult to carry out given that our work environment is very busy and there isn’t always the time for outside activities.