This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I've been enjoying the internship a great deal: having been put into an area (Digital, Personal Banking) that I have never had any experience in previously I have been incredibly surprised how much I've enjoyed it all. The team I'm working in has no interns, but it has a very young average age and there are plenty of people, young and old, and across teams, who have helped me along the internship.
I feel valued by my colleagues for my presence in the team even for such a short period. I was researching one of our digital journeys online, doing some research on competitors and presenting my recommendations for the page. The response in particular to spotting the psychology used by competitors made me feel valued.
I have been given solid guidance by my line managers. One, who has always taken the time to go through methodically the things I don't know, has taken holiday for two weeks, so currently I have his line manager, and although busier, she's really nice and super helpful. She also knows who to talk to for specific topics.
Pretty busy, to be honest it is a good balance normally, but it seems to ebb and flow quite a lot. I seemed to be too busy quite a lot at the end of last week to the point where I was doing stuff over the weekend, which I probably shouldn't have had to. But in general, a good balance.
I've been given quite a bit of responsibility in improving the life insurance journey, which is good because I like to be stretched without feeling like I'm out of my depth. Within these last few weeks I've learnt so much about website creating software (AEM), SEO, PEGA (the decision making brain in prompts messages) and all of the processes and regulations. I will have something to show at the end of it though, which will be exciting.
This is a question I am unsure about. I do civil engineering, which is maths based, teamwork focused and develops a lot of soft skills that are very transferable. However, I have had work experience in it and I don't foresee me going into that area. Digital seems to be an exciting area that is certainly developing at a rapid pace, and these software skills I'm learning are really invaluable.
The Company
Really great in general. Everyone is really friendly and helpful. The line managers are all really cheerful and you can have a laugh with them all which is brilliant. I don't feel excluded at all from anything, they're all very welcoming and as I've said, all very young so I definitely can relate to them.
Very well organised in general. The two day induction gave us a good idea of what was to come, what was expected of us and how we should approach it. My line manager or someone was apparently meant to set me up on the system before I arrived but this wasn't the case: all the important stuff was sorted within a week however.
They have invested in us quite a lot, developing our soft skills as well as our specialist skills for each area. I have been surprised at how frequent training sessions occur, and they ensure that their employees are skilled and are up-skilling all the time. The learning modules are also effective at getting the information in.
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
Company Parties/Events
Healthcare/Dental
I don't know the answer really. I think that the opportunity to rise up the ladder is there to some extent, but that doesn't mean that its easy or made completely obvious. It seems that plenty of graduates and employees move to different areas of the business and gain experience there before moving upwards.
The Culture
Yes there is, the interns in Edinburgh are all very social and always have plans in the making! The graduates also plan some stuff for us, and for us and them too. I'm pretty happy as a social introvert to go to a few of the things my mates plan: there's plenty of stuff to do in Edinburgh.
Cost of living is pretty good in the area I'm living. However, I've realised that if I shop in town it gets a lot more expensive, so trying to find a supermarket near me has been key to trying to keep within budget. Socialising in general has been pretty pricey.
In Edinburgh the nightlife is very good. There are clubs such as Cheese and HIVE which are pretty busy for what I called small clubs. There are more than enough bars and pubs however so that's brilliant: I prefer to have a quieter drink with a few close mates if I'm honest.
Plenty yeah. There was this thing called the Hackathon that seemed like a lot of fun. My friends really enjoyed taking part in that, which was over the course of two days. And there is also the opportunity to get involved with the charity side volunteering, was chatting to a few employees about gardening for example.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Information Technology, Sales
Scotland
July 2019