Sales Strategy Review

The job itself wasn't the best and definitely not what i thought i'd signed up for. I think that the job was 'bigged up' when it was advertised but in reality the job really required very little skills to do. I think i was unfortunate in the team i was put in and the other parts of the business had a very different approach to interns. However, the intern community was great and very sociable. There was always lots going on in the office and events to attend which was a great way to meet people.

Everyone was really nice and welcoming, if i ever needed help or assistance there'd always be someone to help. However, as a wasn't a major part of the team i wasn't involved with my team as much as i'd hoped. I was given medial tasks way too often which didn't help me grow my skills as an individual as there was more of this type of task than ones actually relevant to my interests and future career goals.

All interns got aligned with a mentor at the start of the internship and i requested to change mentors to someone in a field that i was interested in, i was introduced me to lots of interesting contacts and give me additional work to my day job in the field i liked. However, i don't think i am any better off than when i started the placement in terms of guidance as usually this was left for myself to figure out.

This was one of the biggest downfalls in my internship as for the majority of the year my calendar was very empty and found myself bored a lot of the time. I raised this multiple times with my manager on every 1:1 we had, they seemed to brush it off each time and never actually resolved this. However, the majority of the other interns seemed to have a perfect balance of work so i believe that it was an anomoly due to the team i was placed into.

I helped out with a few events during the year and ran one by myself which was really rewarding. I think i could've been given more responsibility in my day job by being given more meaningful tasks however they seemed to be limited to things like creating surveys, sending emails ect - basically things anyone could do! I feel like i only touched the surface on understanding the business as a whole which is really a shame, as the tasks i was given were very medial and unimportant.

Soft skills will come in useful like sending emails, communicating with people outside the organisation, business professionalism, business conducts. However, I didn't learn many other hard skills that will be specific to my degree studies or future job which is a real shame. Realistically, I don't think think that this internship has helped me out for my future at all and everything i learnt here could've easily been picked up quickly in a grad job.

Medium sized office, some days it was really quiet and other days it was packed! Loved the office atmosphere, always things going on. Never too loud to be able to work, overall it was a really nice atmosphere. All desks were hot desks which was also a good thing, so you could sit wherever you wanted each day! Nice and modern office which was well equipped. There was private quiet rooms and larger meeting rooms.

The early careers team were overall really good and prepared. We had 4 intern development days set up through the year to improve our hard and soft skills like presenting and learning more about HPE which i really enjoyed. I think that mentors could've been chosen properly with more thought and care. Because all interns were obviously in different areas of the business, i found that people in Sales teams had more chances to go to events and had more opportunities compared to other teams.

The only personal training i received was at the development days and slightly with my mentor, however, i wouldn't really class this as training - more just leaning and helping out with other work. I would've liked to be able to have experience in another field of the business as i didn't enjoy the team i was put into, but when asked to move over i wasn't given permission which i was really disappointed about.

Overall, i think that being a full time employee at HPE you would be valued more than being an intern. As HPE is a really successful, well-known company to work for, i see the appeal to work there. However, I would't return to this company as it is not the type of industry i want to work in and i don't fell like i could move up in the company in something i am passionate about, with the jobs available to graduates.

Yes this was one of the better things about my placement - the people! The intern community was really big with about 30 - 40 interns in total and everyone got along really well and helped each other out with work too. In the first week of placement we had social events to get to know each other ( kind of like starting uni ) , then throughout the year we all socialised after work together.

I lived and worked in London so obviously it was more expensive than the other offices like Bracknell, but it was a really good experience and i wouldn't have had it any other way! I went out and socialised whenever there was an opportunity and this definitely didn't stop me at all doing the things i wanted to. But if you don't have other sources of income other than your salary i really wouldn't recommend London as a Placement base.

I worked in London so as you can expect it was amazing! So many things to do, endless bars, pubs, clubs ect. The office was in a really central location so close by to everything you could ever need and had really good transport links. The places we often visited after work which i loved were Maddisons at St Pauls, Slug and Lettuce, Dirty Martini and The Anthologist. We also did activities after work like mini golf at Swingers and bowling.

Yes definitely. Working hours were 9am - 5pm so plenty of time after work and weekends to do things you like. Not having time to do things for myself was never an issue of mine, if you manage your time effectively you will have loads of time to do activities and things you enjoy. I joined a gym close by to work (there's loads) so usually went there straight from work or during my lunch hour which was very convenient.