Supply Planning and Procurement Executive Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at Pernod Ricard and would highly recommend it to any student who is considering a year in industry. The experience has been invaluable, and I have learnt so much which is really going to help in my final year at university and for jobs in the future.

The atmosphere in the office at PRUK is very friendly and from day one I was made to feel really welcome by everyone in the operations team. I was treated like any other permanent employee and I feel that my colleagues were interested in my opinions and ideas which made me feel valued and motivated.

Throughout the year my line mangaer has been very supportive, and from the beginning i was told there was no such thing as a silly question. As i sat next to my manager i was able to ask questions/advice when needed. I had regular one to ones with my manager which i fould really useful, and were a great oppertinityto discuss what i thought was going well, what i was enjoyig, and anything that i felt i needed some more guidance with.

There were some days at the beginning of the placement where I didn’t have much to do and felt I could have been given more. That said, this was only initially and for most of the placement my days were full, and I was really busy which I love as I felt I was being far more productive.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. I think in the first few months I was mainly supporting functions within the operations team and I then managed my time accordingly. After this I was given the opportunity to manage my own POS projects - this was interesting, and I became a lot more confident when interacting with stakeholders.

The skills I have learned whilst at PRUK will certainly help me in university and future jobs. Having a year in industry will enable me to put context to the theory that I'm taught in my final year. Also, the application process for this internship has prepared me for what to expect when I apply to graduate schemes.

The atmosphere in the PRUK office is great. Its quite relaxed and not too corporate. The company encourage you to hot desk so this is a great way of meeting poeple from different departments. The upstairs space is also a great environment to have informal meetings or as an alternative place to do some work alone.

I think that the placement scheme is very well organised. I was kept up to date prior to startng by HR and throughout my placment my line manager was concious of ensuring i got the most out of the year. I think because I was the first Operations Intern it was up to my manager and I to figure out what functions in the operation team needed support and what i would be doing on a day to basis and what long term projects i would be involved in.

We had the opportunity to attend an insights training course at the beginning of the placement. This was so interesting, and you learn so much about yourself and your preferred working style/method of communication with colleagues.

I think the company is great and I would like to return, however the graduate opportunities don't appeal to me as they are not office based. If PRUK offered graduate schemes in a similar way to how they have run the placement year, then I think this would be far more appealing.

The social scene at PRUK was really good. Each year the company takes everyone on a company conference and whilst i was there we went to Dublin. It was such a brilliant trip. The operations team also held team events such as cocktail making etc.

I lived at home and commuted into London, however I know many of the other interns found living in West London expensive.

I dont think West london has the best nightlife, however it is just a tube ride away from central London.

PRUK have lots of activities to get involved in (Fit club, Pilates, Yoga, Football, Book Club). I participated in Pilates on Monday's and Yoga on Friday's and I found these activities really helped me to switch off from work and they were also a great way of meeting new people in the business.