Summer Internship Review

I did not enjoy my placement/internship. I was sat looking for emails and scrolling through our version of workplace daily. When asking for tasks to do, I was not given heavy tasks as nobody had time to explain anything to me due to restructuring. When joining the organisation, what I wanted to do was not taken into consideration at all, I was plonked into a team (this was confirmed), therefore, I feel there was no value for my 10 weeks. I would have been better suited in Ops risk. I was also placed under 3 different line managers during my internship, therefore, I had no consistency.

None, my colleagues did not include me in their phone calls or conversations. I was not invited to any of their meetings, therefore was not kept in the loop. I organised meetings across the team to find out what they did but I was not given any work to do in order to broaden my knowledge. When asking for more work, I was continually told that they were 'too busy' and everything was 'too hectic' due to system updates and system change overs.

None. I received minimal feedback on my project and at one point waited two weeks for feedback. This delayed my whole project as I was waiting around for feedback. During my first week here, I was also told to just 'read' around the area, which I did. During follow up conversations, nothing was cemented in my brain and I was constantly having to chase up feedback from my manager.

I had to keep myself pre-occupied by organising different meetings with different teams. I did nothing to contribute to my teams tasks or add value, other than generate one report. This was very de-motivating. I then spent a lot of my time actively searching for things to do, such as, reading on different areas, organising my own networking meetings. This was not fun as I was not motivated to come to work.

None. I was given no responsibility from my team during my placement. After waiting to start on the Business Continuity report, this was then put to a halt due to unforeseeable circumstances, however, this was not followed up by my new line manager and I was not given any more tasks to do due to not having enough authority or not being granted access to certain systems. I worked oon a report in reputational risk and this excited me, however, the level of responsibility was not fulfilling.

I developed skills within work such as office etiquette, however, this will not aid me in my degree what so ever. I had to push myself to network and branch out to people. I was left feeling demotivated therefore this is not a skill I wish to take with my to my future career. I felt that the skills I developed was a poor attitude to the professional world and everybody is 'too busy' to explain a piece of work to you. The only team that did this were reputational risk and Legal Counsel.

The atmosphere and work life balance at work was one of a good one and you were encouraged to take your lunch and not work past 5pm. It was relaxed and people just got on with their own work without distracting one and other. There was always time to catch up with your colleagues.

Early Careers had organised the internship well. It was structured and we knew the dates of each task we had to do and when to be completed by. The assessment centre tasks were not stressful, however, were challenging and made you think. The guides on the internet and the communication from your buddy throughout the lead-up was reassuring and comforting.

Paying £21,500 in an individual who is on a summer internship shows their eagerness to keep you. I was also made aware of any qualifications that you wanted to do, the company would pay (within reason) and they'd give you the time. There is also 90 day development plans which each of my team do, this ensures they are continuing growing. In terms of me, the company invested a salary into me, but nothing more.

I was based in Edinburgh. This is not expensive, however, if I didn't have a friend, I can see it would be expensive during the fringe. Everything goes up in price during the month of August in Edinburgh and it becomes busier, however, the social life becomes better in August due to the free shows that are on offer.

No night life in the area I work. There is a nightlife into the city centre, however, there is nothing around the office. Buses are 20 minutes into the city centre from where I work, therefore, it is accessible and you can have a nightlife a bus ride away, however, socialising after work can be a problem if people live further out of the city.

Kind of. There was nothing internally advertised for activities outside of work. There was no healthy active life style promotion or nothing external. The only thing that I was aware of, even after spending time actively searching was the teams corporate social responsibility day. This is when they go and spend a day out of the office and help in the local community.