Europe Technical Sales Leadership Support Review

I had pleasure of working with an amazing, small team with the ability to grow my skills in many areas and work with a brilliant global network. I was given the opportunity to travel abroad and complete projects in many aspects of work. The offices are friendly environments and there was flexibility to work from home when needed. I felt like I had a responsibility when doing my job and took a major leadership role on one particular initiative.

My colleagues and I all looked after each other and shared the teams workload fairly. I felt valued and part of a family - we looked out for each others' well being. I was able to make friends easily and there were many activities put on outside of work and social events to be a part of to expand my network in the region and meet more people. Although I never had face to face interactions with many of my colleagues, I got to know people from around the world very well.

I was always given feedback on request from my manager and at scheduled intervals around the placement. I was given clear guidance as to what I should achieve on each task and was able to take my own responsibility for things when I had built trust with my manager. I was given support when needed and felt they were approachable to reach out to if I had any questions or concerns. The level of support I received was excellent.

I was busier towards the end of my placement in comparison with at the start, usually with a good balance. I rarely felt pressured to need to work extra hours to complete work and was rarely bored: there was always more to do when the current task was complete. The work-life balance of the job made it easy to stay motivated with tasks. The nature of the work meant there were peaks and troughs in the incoming work but it was always distributed evenly.

I was indeed running the show with one particular initiative and became the subject matter expert in one programme that I led on a continental level. I was able to interact with some senior people and learn as I went along to do the job better and better as time progressed. I was able to make key decisions and became involved the global leaders to determine the direction of the initiative to benefit the the region I was managing.

I completed a 54 hour Machine Learning course and have gained a certificate from that, funded by the company which. This is an excellent foundation to build from should I need to use these machine learning skills for my course - I hope to use them for a final year project. My degree subject differs from the area I worked in but I will no doubt be able to use some transferable skills on my return to degree studies. The course I took has helped me determine which area of business I have applied to as a graduate.

The atmosphere in the office was usually lively with friendly people who would usually be happy to answer questions about anything when I asked. The office was located in the heart of a major UK city and there were always office events such as coffee mornings, tournaments and social gatherings taking place. It had a real community feel and there was a kitchen and games room to use for the facilities and to relax in, respectively.

The internship was extremely well organised and took into account my technical background in a business operations role. I attended training courses and was able to pick learning courses from a vast library. There were set tasks which were continuous and other tasks which were ad-hoc and lasted shorter periods of time. The communication from managers and placement organisers was very good throughout the placement so I always informed of structures and processes within my time there.

The company invested a great deal in me. I was able to travel internationally to engage with preparation for a project abroad as well as funding my attendance of a digital skills academy which required travel within the UK to attend. The Machine Learning course I completed was fully funded by the company and I was allowed the time to complete that. I able to spend time completing internal online courses developing my technical and soft skills.

The future prospects for employment are very appealing. The ethos of the company is one which I wholly identify with and I would love to be part of the community again. I have applied back and believe I have a good chance of being successful in this. However, there was not an excessive selection of roles to apply to. I am being supported by my management throughout this process and hope to engage further in this process before my placement ends.

There is an excellent social scene between placement students in the region of the country I work, at this company. We have gone on a few after work social events and, during COVID, set up a weekly quiz which all the interns in the region are invited to, to keep in touch and have a laugh. There were also numerous Christmas parties to choose to attend in December in different cities, organised by students within the company.

The area I worked in (Manchester) was comparatively cheaper than London and I am glad I chose this city to work in. I lived in the city centre to shorten my commute and was able to find affordable accommodation and pay likely no more than the national average for the cost of living with a variety of supermarkets, pubs and bars in walking distance. Public transport was also relatively cheap and easy to use to get about.

The nightlife before COVID was bustling. There was a huge variety of bars and restaurants on the street the office was located on as well as clubs in every direction. Manchester was one of the best cities I've ever lived in for it's nightlife and for very reasonable pricing. One could not reasonably expect to experience every niece section on the nightlife while on placement for 12 months in Manchester as there is such a vast quantity.

There were many opportunities, however less than some other company locations. There were tournaments for darts, pool PS4 games and more at Christmas to take part in against other people in the office which was a good way of getting to know people. There was regularly scheduled football after work and also occasional darts in the pub. There were also opportunities to visit schools and universities to house events and present on certain topics the company was involved in.