Accounts Payable Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my year working at Travelport, you will make friends with other interns and be given a job role with real responsibilities. Travelport has a well-established internship program, they have now-permanent staff who were previously interns who look after you and run the program. There is a cross-over period where your first month as an intern is the last month for the interns of the previous year, this is perfect for you to get trained in your job role, but the previous interns will also introduce you to people, show you around the office and share their experience and advice with you from their year at Travelport.

At Travelport, you are treated as a valued employee to the company. There is no difference between the intern job roles and the job roles for permanent staff. I personally was given the exact same level of responsibility as other members of my team who are experienced in the job role. This is great experience for going into the working world after graduation.

Personally, my manager was really good support all year. She was very understanding when I was learning and when I made mistakes. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] were our leaders of the intern program, they were interns themselves a few years ago and now permanent employees. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] helped guide us through our CSR work, and we could go to them for any queries regarding the internship. I was also assigned a mentor who would check in on me once a week, this meant I could go to him with any problems if I didn't feel comfortable talking to my line manager.

This is very variable, it completely depends on the day and it is different for each intern as we all have completely different job roles. For instance, I personally am busier on Thursday's than any other day because that is the day I have to run payments, but that is specific to me. Finance interns generally have a busy period when it is 'month-end' and as I say can have one day a week more busy than the others. But I think all interns will agree you will have some busy days and some quiet days, but the quantity of each depends on your job role.

I feel very grateful that I was given so much responsibility at Travelport. It means my placement year has been genuine work experience which I will take with me after graduation, and if I wanted to work in this job role after graduation I feel as though I am experienced enough to do so. Before I started my placement this sounded very nerve-wracking to me going in with no prior experience. However, my previous intern taught me everything from scratch and my colleagues were very willing to answer any questions I had, and now I feel a valued member of my team.

You will learn so many skills on your placement year that will take you through not just your final year at uni but through life. You will learn some skills from your job role which will be good experience for any future job roles, such as working on certain Softwares and any industry knowledge. But you will also learn more general job skills that could be applied to any job, such as writing emails, attending meetings, meeting new people, being punctual and working 9-5 5 days a week!

During my year at Travelport there were some changes going on in the business and the last months of my placement were effected by covid-19 which will not happen for any future interns. However, there is a really friendly atmosphere in the office, people will smile and chat to you in the canteen and at the coffee spots. Colleagues are also always happy to get involved with and support any charity events we are hosting.

Travelport have been running their internship program for some years now so the program is really well set up. One particularly good aspect of this program is that there is a cross-over period where you will be trained by a previous intern, this is ideal for when you are new and settling into your placement role. Travelport also holds intern development sessions; some sessions I had included networking, presentation skills and goal setting. There is also a 'CSR' aspect to your program, as a team of interns you will work towards raising money for charities of your choice and promote UN sustainability goals.

Travelport holds Intern Development Sessions specifically for the intern cohort. These are 1-3hour long workshops that teach you skills you will keep with you for life. Each session was on a different topic, some examples of sessions held were goal-setting, networking, continuous improvement, public speaking, presentation skills and an Insights Discovery Workshop (personality assessment).

As I am writing this, the business is undergoing some changes, particularly in the financial operations department which means my specific job role will not exist in Travelport after I graduate, however it is a growing business so I would consider working in a different department in Travelport. Travelport does not have a graduate scheme as far as I'm aware.

There was a really good social scene between the interns on my placement scheme as in my year there were over 20 of us. During our first day, they kept all the interns together so we could all meet and introduce ourselves, during the first week the previous interns organised us to all meet up outside of work and order a pizza where we could get to know everyone. Throughout the year all the interns would sit on a table together at lunch every day. Also as an intern cohort, we have CSR/charity work which meant we would have weekly meetings about this.

This is not a student town so the cost of living in this area is quite high. However, there is a subsidised cafe in the office and you are paid for this placement program. Some interns that were moving to the area were in contact before the placement year started so they found a shared flat and we could have gatherings there.

The nearest student town is Reading which has the best nightlife but you do have to travel 30 mins ish to get there. From the office, you can easily travel to London on the train. The closest place to find nightlife is Windsor.

Yes plenty. Travelport have a social club in the office which invites employees to attend events such as quizzes, London theatre shows or even go-karting at a really low cost, and Travelport has their own social football club. The interns would do socials outside of work, e.g. we would go for meals/drinks/nights out in Windsor and we attended Windsor races and Ascot races together. We would also occasionally get invited to go out for lunches with our teams if there was a special occasion e.g. if was someone's birthday.