Business Development Intern Review

I enjoyed a wide range of business and analytical tasks and projects over the 13 month placement. I was involved in anything from pricing to market share, research to reporting, with opportunities to attend conferences and distributor sites in the UK.

We were aligned to smaller teams within an overarching team organisation. This created a feeling of being close to your colleagues which meant you felt valued as a member of your team, integral to its success.

My manager was very supportive, especially in terms of giving really detailed advise. This would be if I ever didn't understand something to do with the company, a task I had, or helping to understand where my strengths lay and what job role I might want to pursue in future.

Workload varied between certain times of year due to the nature of how the quarters were lined up and sales cycles being greater at certain times. However, even during quieter periods there were other projects I could get involved with so I has a healthy work life throughout.

I was at the same level of responsibility as any other employee, having business critical responsibilities to complete on a regular basis.

I strengthened already existing soft skills that I had gained from other experiences, as well as building up new technical skills in terms of data analysis and market/ business understanding. This will help me greatly during the final year of university when conducting data focused research.

The office was sometimes quieter when events were being held or team members worked from home, however there were regular events held in the office. It was a friendly environment where you could approach anyone, including senior management.

Overall there was good structure, with a clear onboarding process during the first month, clear tasks and responsibilities over the year and a clear conclusion in the form of the current interns handing over to the new/ incoming interns.

There were opportunities to get involved with the internal HPE Sales School, various amounts of training you could take, free learning resources and more. I would say the investment was significant on HPE's part.

HPE are focused on ensuring they retain talent and so they run two main graduate programs to apply to, this makes future employment prospects appealing within the organisation, particularly with the wealth of knowledge on business issues and company culture you build up.

There is an intern committee with social secretaries who organise social events. With Reading being one town over there was good opportunity for socialising.

Reading was quite expensive to live in rent wise, however the price of socialising was no different to other towns/ cities.

Reading has many bars, pubs and clubs, as well as non drinking activities you can do.

There was a particular focus to volunteer and give charitably so we were allowed time off each month in order to volunteer and fund raise.