RBWM Intern Review

Plenty of positives, great team I was in, including a line manager who let me get on with my work but was still a great help. Some of the repetition in the inductions was a bit frustrating but all in all it was informative and I learned a lot throughout.

My team throughout seemed to value my contributions and often looked for my opinion during projects. Sometimes you can get a bit lost given its such a huge corporation but overall there was always someone you could help and everyone seems to understand that different people have different skills and so everyone's ability was well respected.

I personally didn't need a lot, but I felt it was often available to me when and if I ever needed it. My manager was often available and was very development focused which meant there was an in built level of support when I started. I never felt worried about going to her with any issues.

There was always something to do if you were willing to ask. Sometimes you would have a slow day but the key to beating it was using your time and booking out time for your own personal projects in order to keep the day structured and busy. This was key to making sure I always had something to do.

I felt responsible for a relative amount of work during my internship, however this was often only for my personal projects. If there were other things for me to help with, they were often fluff pieces or filler work and sometimes I didn't feel I needed to be so responsible for them.

Time management was something I improved massively with this internship, and so I want to continue practicing that throughout university so I can make sure to keep working hard and not ever get complacent in my studies. Also there was a general improvement in my confidence throughout the internship which will help at uni.

The office was very laid back, which suited my style. Everyone was open and honest with one another and there was minimal drama. The ability to sit amongst some of the more senior stakeholders made the days more interesting as you could get a high level overview of their jobs and roles.

Generally it worked very well, and the whole layout of the 8 weeks made it fly by. There were rarely hiccups with organisation and I thought the settings for each intern were personal to each of them. I personally don't think we needed so many induction days as I would've liked to remain stuck into the job itself.

The development days and general investment in the programme was fantastic. It was clear a lot of effort was put in and I am grateful for how focused the programme was on our own personal development, something I rarely focus on. I think we've been looked after fantastically and would recommend the experience.

It was clear from the outset that all of us were capable of going on to work for the company, and it was put in front of us as something to work towards. It was also good to be able to put our needs first and the support for that has been great.

The socials were often good fun, and I made good relationships with many interns. A specific few of them I believe could be good friends of mine in the future and this has often been down to the social side of the internship, I truly believe it's been great socially.

In Birmingham, everything is relatively cheap, however I also go to university here so I didn't have to cover rent. Compared to London you can make your money go a lot further and travel from far and wide for a relatively cheap price. I'd recommend the area especially just for the 8 weeks.

Birmingham nightlife is pretty good, depending on what you like. There's a good variety for those of all music tastes but the stereotypical clubbing scene tends to be more of the generic hits music and cheesy/old classics. For those who prefer proper events, I'd recommend Digbeth and for indie music, Snobs.

Most activities available are through work, and there's plenty of socialising and charity based activities you can get involved in. Given the internship isn't very long, you don't really get the chance to get involved externally as much, but I think with a bit of active searching you'd be able to find everything