Channel Partner Sales Analyst Review

Overall I had a great experience at Intel. It is a great multinational company with and well-developed internship scheme. Interns are valued here and contribute to the growth of the business. I thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at Intel. Although it was hard work and I was given a lot of responsibility, I saw this as one of the best opportunities. I loved my team and felt so supported my entire placement. The intern community is really fun and there are so many opportunities outside of your everyday job, such as volunteering and committees. Outside of the core role, there are intern committees which aim to make the year as enjoyable as possible this includes Social & Sport, Charity, and Publishing Committee. Moreover, you can get involved in volunteering in STEM aims to inspire the young generation of kids. The only thing I was disappointed with was how little attention the company paid the environmental responsibility on an individual office level (despite great effort on production and logistics). Little was done to tackle the issues of the use of plastic/waste and education about environmental sustainability.

I felt very valued by my team - the responsibilities and the tasks you are given are necessary for the team and organisation to function properly. My managers often asked for my opinion and depended on me. From my first day on placement until my very last I felt valued and supported by my direct team and all other employees at my site. You are not treated as an intern at Intel, but just as another employee. I was given heaps of responsibility and never asked to carry out 'admin' tasks.

In the department I was at which was Business Management Group the support and mentorship program is great. Everyone was assigned an on the job coach whom with we would have regular 1:1 meeting to asses the progress, discuss any issues and guide through the tasks and responsibilities. The management was less involved but having the supervisor was fully sufficient. At any stage, I was clear with what was expected of me and in case of any issue, I was comfortable in raising to the supervisor or manager.

Again this depended on the time of the quarter. There were periods when the workload was quite high especially when the new data were coming out. It was required of me to show great time management and organisational skills and communicate any delays in meeting deadlines. During the quiet periods, I was able to explore different responsibilities, do shadowing and get involved in the volunteering or charity events. In my particular role, it varied depending on where we were in the quarter. At the start and the end of the quarter, I was extremely busy and in the middle, I had enough work to keep me going. I never had so much to do that I would feel stressed and I took on a lot of extra work that was expected of me because I like to be busy.

I was given loads of responsibility during my placement. Within my team, I was not treated as an intern but as a fellow colleague. I managed projects by myself, ran customer meetings alongside my team with little guidance. I also had the opportunity to present to lots of senior people in my role. The interns in my team were all given quite a lot of responsibility, especially when it came to event management. My managers work part-time so it was up to me pick up anything urgent when they weren't there.

I believed the organisational and data analysis skills I have gained over the year will be a great asset to have in my final year of study. Moreover, I developed greater confidence in myself and my presentation skills which will be utilized not only in my degrees but future employment. I think, however, that the role was somewhat limiting and didn't present me with a chance to challenge myself outside of my comfort zone, hence, there is a room for improvement.

It was always busy in the office and everyone you passed was friendly and welcoming. The canteen was full of energy and made lunchtimes more enjoyable. There were always people to talk to if you need support or any help, and there was never a dull day in the office. Intel definitely has a great work-life balance and the company fosters relationship building. As long as you are completing your main responsibilities you are allowed to take breaks, chat to people and enjoy your day at the office. There is a 'Great Place to Work' committee which function is to ensure the engagement of all employees and morale improvement. Overall the atmosphere is pretty relaxed and not as serious as in many financial companies.

Despite waiting quite a long time to hear back from the company after applying in September I can honestly say the overall set up is good. They normally start contacting students around January period with offering jobs as soon as a day after the assessment centre. There is also an open day when all interns can meet up and facebook group created to aid any communication. The company helps with any issues in finding accommodation and organised a month-long handover period when new interns can learn from current ones. Throughout the year there is a strong intern community and participation in everything that Intel has to offer. The placement was well organised, with plenty of training sessions at the beginning of the year. The HR team always were on hand for any help and support. The placement was well set out with tasks to do and I was always involved with team activities which made me feel part of the team

There is a lot of compulsory training on how to handle confidential information and workplace attitudes. Aside from those, it is mostly up to you to raise to your managers what you'd like to get involved in (aside from your job) and mine was very helpful. The open and laid back style of the office also makes it easy to talk to anyone not in your team/realm of work for you to get training on certain things.

The company has its Graduate Scheme for all Business Management Group interns which is a department I was in. This isn't the case for all marketing or technical interns. They may, however, offer a job depending on the availability of the role. They treat the internship as a form of the interview for the grad role and offer a job back based on the performance & positions being available. The company allow interns to come back for a grad scheme, entering another segment of the business, which allows you to explore more than what you learnt on placement and discover where your strengths lie. This really is encouraging as you can work your way up the business within different working groups

Intel does have a well developed intern community. There are over 40 interns each year from different background including business, marketing, technical. The company does ensure that the internship is not only about hard work but also good fun. As previously mentioned there are numerous committees on site aiming to organise social events and encourage employees and interns socialisation. Over the year company organises events such as Christmas parties, department drinks, lunches etc. I would say the social life at Intel is a very good standard. There was a great intern community at Intel, with over 50 Interns at the Swindon site. We would regularly go on night outs and were free to meet each other during the day for coffee to get away from our desks for a bit. There is also 6 weeks of handover so for 6 weeks there are around 100 interns on-site with events planned every week!

Swindon, despite being located quite centrally near Bristol, Bath and London is a relatively cheap place to live in. The rent and prices are nothing compared to some of the ones in bigger cities. You can easily survive on an intern salary and enjoy everything that the place has to offer and even save a fair bit depending on your lifestyle.

The nightlife is pretty poor in Swindon. It is not a student town, hence, the availability of nightclubs is limited. There are 2 main ones including Tree and former Revolution called the Edge. An old town area is a place were many pubs and restaurants are located so there are fair few choices for a chilled evening with friends.

There was plenty of volunteering activities which you could get involved with at work such as Inspire which welcomed different school groups in to learn about the company and get involved with tasks, as well as guide dogs coming in for charity and different volunteering groups around the Swindon area to join together at the office There are many opportunities to get involved with charities and STEM-related events for children - these are organised by interns or advertised by the company. Aside from charity-work and a couple of sports-related activities during lunch-time, there isn't much.