Management Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year with Enterprise Rent a Car. I learnt so much more than I ever thought I would and the transferable skills it has given me for my final year at university are priceless. It really taught me how to run a business and manage people. I really got what I wanted out of my placement year and would recommend to anyone I know to apply for placement/graduate opportunities with Enterprise.

During my 15 months, I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. Its one of Enterprise's core values and staff really are put at the forefront of priorities. Even if it were for the smallest of achievements, Enterprise can reward you for it and it really was for me a motivation throughout my 15 months. It sounds cliché, but you really do end up being a little working family and you get to know everybody really well.

Your management/supervisors at Enterprise are all there to help you and guide you through. The great thing with Enterprise is that its a 'promote from within' culture, meaning that every single manager/supervisor (even the CEO!) has been in your shoes at the start not knowing anything and taking on a completely new working environment. Another great thing is that if you are stuck or experience any problems, you can reach out to any management on any level and they will be more than happy to help you!

Enterprise can be very busy at times. This can be mainly due to seasonal demand, especially during the summer, and if you are working in a popular tourist city like I was, demand can sometimes feel like it wont end! But ultimately, the way I saw it was that it gave me even more opportunities to learn, meet new customers and further my development! This then really puts you in good step for when you're looking to apply for promotions.

During my placement, I was given a lot of responsibility. That's the great thing with Enterprise is that they want you to get stuck into all aspects of the business even from when you start. You are given captaincy roles on a certain aspect of the business for a few weeks at a time and it is a really good way to micro manage your own little project and further your development. Also, sometimes I would be running the branch itself! Therefore, it was my responsibility to provide the right cars to the right deals and benefit everyone!

As mentioned previously, the skills that I have acquired have so far proven so valuable to me in my final year at university. I now have a newfound motivation to get up and start working on my classes/assignments so that I don't fall behind on them. I never thought I would have gained the transferable skills that I have from Enterprise and the day to day training that they provide to you really is great.

The atmosphere in the office for the most part was great! Like I said you really do start to become a little working family and the connections you can make with your colleagues really do help with the job a lot. At times yes it can be stressful when demand is high, but that's what brings you closer as a team and makes you get through it all as you are all working together. I was very sad to leave my team at the end of my placement!

The set up for my placement was great. I was always informed of what was going on and what and when the next steps were. Even if I had any doubts or any questions, the recruitment team are always on hand to help and guide you through it. I think for me, it was exactly 1 month from when I first applied to the job, to then getting a formal job offer. The whole recruitment process was conducted professionally and efficiently.

Enterprise invested a lot of time into me and my development. Each new starter is given a personal training folder with various tasks and projects to complete whilst on placement. To do this you had to collaborate with your management team and your colleagues so that you could get through it and get the most out of it. Everyone helped me so much throughout my placement and I really wouldn't be in my position now if it wasn't for them.

Future employment prospects within the organisation are super high. As mentioned before, Enterprise has a promote from within culture and will never use an external agency to fill a branch manager position for example. Opportunities of various different levels and on a nationwide scale are endless! It really depends on how hard you are willing to work and your flexibility as to where the jobs are located, the further your willing to go, the more opportunities there are for you!

At Enterprise, we ran intern specific events like laser tag and meals out. So there was definitely opportunities to meet and socialise with the other interns. Also due to the nature of the business there is travel involved so you would always get to meet new people from other branches when you go there to collect cars. We also had an 'intern of the year competition' which really gave a new incentive for all interns to explore new areas of the business.

So for me, I started working in Salisbury and was living at home. Then after 9 months there, I received an opportunity to work and live in Oxford for free. As I'm sure you can imagine, Oxford is quite expensive, so to combat this, Enterprise had been renting a lovely 3 bedroom flat just outside Oxford that housed a few employees. It was a great way to experience a completely different area and also live rent free in Oxford for 6 months whilst I finish my placement!

In Salisbury the nightlife is not the best as it is a small medieval city. However there were still a lot of nice small pubs that the team would get together on a Friday after a long week. I can't really say the same thing for Oxford as just as I moved there, the first COVID lockdown hit! But once the lockdown ended and pub restrictions were lifted, we always used to get together as a team on a Friday and socialise!

One great thing that we did on placement was organise 5 a side football matches between different areas. It was a great way to get to meet new people, have a bit of fun at the same time and have some bragging rights! Other than that, there were a few of us from my branch in Salisbury that used to go to the gym after work. Not the most amount of opportunities but still enough none the less.