Talent Acquisition Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship at Siemens! The people I worked with were really nice and energizing. For example, when I did good work, I would get lots of recognition and praise from my team. Throughout the year I had opportunities to to work on numerous projects and travel to events. I was given a lot of responsibility which made the placement really useful as I could easily see if I could see myself doing this career after University.

From my first day till the last, I have felt so valued by the team. I genuinely haven't met anyone at Siemens who hasn't been supportive and friendly. They are really good at recognition. Throughout the year, I have received 4 Champion Awards, via our peer-to-peer recognition scheme for good work. In our team catch-ups, people regularly give shout-outs to colleagues who have have done impressive work. My team even had our own awards evening in Manchester. I felt very valued during my time there.

During my placement, I had two managers. Both were very lovely and supportive people. They supported me with every task and project I worked on and felt very comfortable with asking them questions and talking about areas of work I was struggling with. If a project came up that they thought I would be interested in, they would ask me if I wanted to work on it. They were keen to give me as many opportunities as possible and I am very grateful about that.

My previous intern's feedback was that she felt overworked at times. My manager took that feedback on board and frequently asked me about my workload to ensure I didn't have too much or too little do to. Most the time I had enough to get on with. There were parts of the year where I was very busy and parts of the year where I was really quiet depending what was going on. The quieter times could get a little boring, but overall it was a nice balance.

I felt I was given lots of responsibility. When I was given a task or a project to work on, I was given the responsibility to carry that out. Siemens is a very collaborative environment though, so even when I felt very responsible for the work, I would frequently work with others as well. There were very few tasks that I was solely responsible for, the rest was group work or done with help from managers.

Siemens enter all their interns onto the Intern Development Programme. As part of this programme, you complete three modules which help develop you softer skills, such as business influencing and how to utilize your strengths. This, along with my day-to-day job, has really helped develop my confidence, communication and several other skills. I feel like my managers would try and get me involved in a variety of tasks to maximize my development. Therefore, I will definitely pass on these skills onto my final year at University and future career.

Before starting, I envisioned the office to be really corporate and formal. The general atmosphere was actually really friendly, casual and flexible. Everyone in the office was really approachable and helpful. Obviously it is a working environment, but people were always up for a chat and coffee break. Other than my team, there was also quite a few other interns in my office who were really nice to talk to and have lunch with. We all got on on together really well.

I had a lot of structure to my days. I would have meetings everyday and regular catch-ups with my managers which meant that the work I was doing it have a lot of structure. When I started, I was enrolled onto a programme which was also meant I had organised training to attend three times throughout the year. I had a handover with my previous intern which meant I had a formal induction to the company to cover all the bases.

All interns get enrolled onto the Intern Development Programme. As part of the programme, interns complete 3 modules throughout the year, all aiming to improve an intern's softer skills. This shows that Siemens invested money into all of their interns. Personally, my managers would always try to get me involved in doing a variety of projects with my development in mind. They also give me a lot of responsibility for a lot of these tasks to allow me to really develop my skills.

Even in my assessment centre, my team said that there isn't a graduate job to directly go into if I got the internship. So realistically it is quite unlikely that I will work at Siemens again now that my internship is over. If, by a miracle, they did offer me a role in the future, I would 100% accept it because I think they are a really good company to work for. So future employment prospects are appealing, but unlikely (for me personally).

Siemens invests quite heavily into early careers. There are loads of apprentices, interns and graduates about for you to socialise with, especially at the site I worked at. When I first started, all the interns went bowling together and since then we go to lunch together everyday (until lockdown) and had a few night outs and meals together outside of work. Because we worked in Frimley, there wasn't a lot for us to do socially, but there there was a good social scene amongst us placement students.

Frimley and the surrounding area is quite an expensive place to live because it is in Surrey. If you are willing to commute, you can get cheaper housing in Reading though. There isn't a lot to do there either, which means you tend to travel a lot to have fun and socialise to e.g. London or Guilford which are also both quite expensive places to go. Overall, the costs aren't great, but you can are getting paid a salary which helps cover these costs.

In Frimley, there is not any nightlife. There is a couple of pubs which we would occasionally go to after work, but no clubs. The closest club is in Camberley (10min drive away), but that is also quite a small town and it only has one club. Despite this, if you are willing to travel, Frimley isn't far from London, Guildford and Reading where there is a better variety of nightlife with a better atmosphere.

With the other interns in my office, I had many opportunities to socialise with them after work. My site had a free gym so after work I could attend free classes and work out. All interns also get 2 paid volunteering days which meant I could take the day off to do some volunteering as well (E.g. I went to Silverstone and helped in the pit lane). Other than that, I can't think of any other opportunities.