Business Leadership Summer Intern Review

I've really enjoyed the placement. British Gas has a great work environment and I was given a lot of responsibility. My manager was really supportive and let me work on real projects. I gained valuable experience speaking to different stakeholders across the whole business and have been given real insight how a large organisation runs.

Everyone on my team was awesome, so friendly and willing to help. I was treated like one of the team and not made to feel like I was just an intern. As a team we had weekly catch up meetings where everyone spoke about what they were up to and everyone supported each other wherever they could. The only downside was a lot of my team was spread across the UK so often we had video meetings but besides that it was great!

My line manager was really supportive and helpful. We had daily meetings where we just caught up about what I was doing, if I was in-line to reach my objectives and if I needed any more support. When there was a point that I felt like I could handle more work, my line manager happily gave me more responsibility, which was great. I couldn't have asked for a better manager.

Between al of the different things going on I was pretty busy. There is a lot of opportunity as an intern to get involved in different activities- such an the charity challenge and the innovation challenge. During the first 5 weeks I was really busy settling in and getting used to things, but after that not as busy. I did end up asking my manager for work to fill my time but even though, often have a few spare hours a week.

I was given a lot of responsibility on my placement. I was given the chance to co-manage a developing project- creating important business documents and engaging in conversations with key stakeholders. I had 1-on-1 meetings with stakeholders a lot higher up than I was and was responsible for getting the correct information and relaying it back to the team. All of the work I did was worthwhile and served a purpose- I wasn't given any work just as a "time filler".

The skills that I've learned in this placement will help me in any future carer I'll have. I've learnt how to properly manage my time- balancing it between different projects and having a good work-life balance. I've learned how to effectively communicate and network with other people in the business, which was one of the key skills I wanted to develop when starting the placement. There's a lot of different skills I've learnt, even just how to work in a professional work environment, which will be extremely beneficial in the future.

The office was nice, very clean and comfortable with good lighting. Since it is a hot seat policy and you can move around a lot, there is potential to meet a lot of people. That being said, a lot of teams are in different locations across the UK and the teams that are in the same office tend to stick together so it's not a very social office.

The placement was set up really well, we all have different line managers and are doing very different work. It's clear that a lot of time and effort has been put in to making sure that the interns are given appropriate and worthwhile training. Along with this, there's intern development days which are fun and a god chance to socialise.

There was some personal development opportunities, such as the development days for all interns, but I didn't feel like there were that many development sessions set up for just the interns. A lot of the personal development comes from communicating with your line managers, telling them what specific areas you want to develop in and then trying to find opportunities to do so.

I really like the work environment of the organisation and the grad scheme does seem like a really good opportunity. From the amount of responsibility and autonomy I've been given in the placement, it makes future employment prospects really appealing. I also like the idea of having the chance to move around the UK in placements. That being said, with the restructuring of the organisation currently it makes me a bit more unsure.

There was a little but of social scene as all of the interns were put into accommodation together, but it seemed that almost everyone went home for the weekends so there wasn't much to do. As I was placed in Egham, there's pretty much nothing to do in Egham but it's an easy trip into London. I made some good friends on the placement but there wasn't much of a social scene.

Barely no night life in Egham, with 1 club a 25-minute Uber away

Not really many that I had heard of.