Food intern Review

The virtual experience was very interactive and provided a good mix of interactive online sessions, webinars, one on ones and individual research. Everyone was very friendly too, which made for a very enjoyable experience

We were regularly told how useful our insights and presentations would be for Tesco, which made me feel that I could give something back to the company. On top of this, even the fact that they still ran the virtual internship (which was originally supposed to be in the office until Covid happened), made me feel valued.

Plenty!

This experience has definitely given me insights into working at Tesco and the retail sector more broadly, which will help me moving forwards into the world of work. This was also a good way to learn about workplace etiquette when working virtually and they have given us plenty of help with learning how to work MS Teams etc.

Very well, especially given the circumstances

Lots of enthusiasm and energy from both interns and permanent employees of Tesco

We were given an introductory webinar to every platform we used (e.g. MS Teams and Tesco's customer insight database). We were also invited onto numerous Q&A sessions with employees across the whole of Tesco to really understand the different areas of the company. We were also given professional coaching on Tesco's leadership qualities and skills. these sessions were usually as a group and very interactive, so provided a good opportunity to meet others doing the internship too.

This internship has shown me that there's many different areas of Tesco than I ever could have realised before. I think the internship coordinators have done a great job exposing us all to these different areas of Tesco and ensuring that we understand how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I would imagine that we have mainly been shown the most exciting projects and work that Tesco does, so it is perhaps slightly harder to see how much of that really happens in most people's everyday jobs.

The fact that everyone who we interacted with had had to adapt in some way because of Covid showed a lot of resilience, responsiveness and a positive attitude in Tesco. Even during these very turbulent times, we were all welcomed as interns and made to feel that we were really important in the company. I think this says a lot about Tesco's culture and the fact that they support absolutely everyone who works for them.

Despite reducing our internship length from 10 weeks down to 6 (and moving it online after Covid hit), Tesco still paid us for 10 weeks worth of work, as we originally would have been. I think this shows a huge amount of dedication to us as interns and makes me feel valued as a Tesco colleague. The work life balance was great and the work was interesting, so the pay is a real bonus on top

We were actively encouraged to network and to reach out to other people working at Tesco, as well as to connect with other interns. Despite moving the internship online, I still feel that I had many opportunities to speak to new people and that I would be encouraged to reach out to anyone in the company that I wanted to. I get the impressions that this would be the same if we were in office too.

Networking was actively encouraged and facilitated by everyone I met at Tesco. Social events were facilitated by the internship coordinators in the form of 'virtual coffee roulettes', which were actually in response to a suggestion by an intern. Other social events and numerous 'virtual coffees/ lunches' were organised by interns and everyone was very receptive and enthusiastic for these. I think there was a good balance of group meetings being organised by Tesco colleagues, and the interns being encouraged to organise things for ourselves.

Yes! We were all paid well, the internship coordinators were quick to respond to any issues we brought to them, the overall structure and day to day plans were made clear to us, networking opportunities were abundant, the work was interesting and well supported, and we were valued as part of the larger team at Tesco. All of these made for a really valuable experience which I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for experience in the retail sector (or finance, supply chain etc.)