Fast Stream Intern Review

It was a great introduction to the Civil Service and because the Public Sector is where I am most interested in pursuing a career within, I was naturally interested to see how the Civil Service functions. This was a good introduction into how Britain much of the work in government is carried out - there is a perception that most policy making is driven top down whereas it is the other way around. In particular, I found that the ONS is a really dynamic organisation.

Very valued because they invested a lot of time in getting to know us. Naturally, many of the more senior colleagues were very busy and had limited time to interact with intern. However, full time employees on the Civil Service Fast Stream were particularly welcoming as many of them had been through the same internship as us. There were also a few other interns from the Government Economic Service, which made for a great atmosphere.

A lot of support was given as there was an assumption that we were coming in knowing nothing about the workstreams we were placed on, although it was expected that we had an interest. As I was at the Office for National Statistics, the support included training in Excel and STATA. I also got training in Microsoft Teams and Zoom, as part of the organisation's remote working arrangements. This of course included tailored guidance from my line manager.

Busy but not detrimentally so. There is a perception from outside circles that the Civil Service is a bit inert and that nothing gets done however, I found that to be far from the case during my internship - I was always tasked with responsibilities to be delivered by certain deadlines. As I was working from home several days per week, this cut down on my travel time. I was thus able to manage my working week effectively.

A lot of responsibility - I was producing client work throughout the internship, and was held to a high standard, although I was given a lot of support. This was even moreso because I was at the Office for National Statistics, where the accuracy of my work was scrutinised and rightly so. I felt that I was given more responsibility when I was working in the office, for obvious reasons relating to the extent to which I could be guided.

Being trained in STATA will help me a lot when it came to working with data for my final year dissertation. Excel training will also be useful for my entire career, and this was the first internship in which I used it extensively. In terms of knowledge of the Office for National Statistics as a whole, it has assisted me in my choice of career as I now have a strong theoretical knowledge of how it functions.

A great atmosphere - I was working with people who were generally only a few years older than me so we got on well. All staff members were very welcoming and I believe it has a lot to do with the fact that we all have chosen to work in the public sector rather than the private sector. Even when working remotely, there were plenty o tea building exercises and semantics to help liven our spirits.

Well organised although some of the key information about the internship could have been given to us a bit earlier. The application process was also not entirely transparent as there were some additional steps to those that had been listed on the website. Nevertheless, there is only such an extent that a programme catering for so many people can be well organised. The recruitment team handled the outbreak of the coronavirus very well, so even during the recruitment process (both pre pandemic and during the pandemic), we were informed about our progress all of the way.

A lot of investment in the technical side of things (Excel and STATA) as this was essential to my work. Soft skills such as presentation skills were not emphasized as much however, this was probably understandable given the nature of the work and the coronavirus situation. There were a few sessions on how to submit a successful application to the Civil Service fast stream that I found invaluable, as I will be applying this autumn.

Decent - an internship within the Office for Statistics on the Civil Service Internship is a very marketable thing in an era where competition for public sector jobs is very high. The civil service itself is huge, and allows for quite a lot of movement between departments if one has the transferable skills. Moreover, the Office for National Statistics will conceivably be a key employer in the years to come, where transparency over public data will be crucial.

There was a great social scene owing to the fact that fast stream full timers interacted a lot with the interns and that we were of a similar age group. It was easy to share interests with quite a lot of people both at the ONS and on the fast stream internship from other departments, as well as the Government Economic Service's internship. Moreover, the fact that the work was highly interesting make for a great atmosphere outside of work due to high workplace satisfaction.

Not very high because it was Newport although because I stayed in the Newport student village, my rent was a bit higher than what would have been the case if I had rented from spareroom or other websites. I was also working during the pandemic, so I worked from home on a regular basis which cut my commuting times and expenditure, and allowed me to cook instead of eat out on most days, which was great.

Non existent

Yes