Business Management Intern Review

I was assigned to split my time with various different teams. However, my main role was to work as a cost analysis working on a specific project alongside different stakeholders to reduce cost and increase margins. It involved analysing different products and different processes, using data analytical tools, software and business intelligence to understand the best way forward in reducing our costs. I was also tasked with updating metrics dashboards and updating the senior leaders of the day changes to the program. Worked heavily with sales, commercial and engineering, being exposed to different teams. One was able to really level up with technical skills and knowledge, working and collaborating with a multitude of teams from across the globe.

Identifying opportunities for improved cost efficiencies on new product introductions has helped me develop my entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills further where I feel confident now in making executive decisions that will positively impact my work. I was also able to learn increased business acumen and improve my analytical and interpersonal skills which has. What I have learnt from my experience with General Electric so far is how important accuracy and integrity is but also the importance of innovation and problem-solving, which in turn has helped me build and evolve my own skills.

Throughout my time at GE I was given increased autonomy to the extent that by the end of my 12 month placement I was in a position where I was making some decisions for the team. I had a high degree of involvement with all the teams that I was working with, and was more often than not given my own assignments to work on and this gave me a significant amount of exposure to a multitude of business areas and make a meaningful impact to my teams work. The independent work also allowed me to learn quickly, but it was made abundantly clear that there was a strong support network for me to utilise.

The support network at General Electric and within my team was very vast and strong. There were a lot of different lines of business that offered a varying type of support which allowed me to meet new people and work with different teams. We had weekly check in learning academies with our mentors who would give us all the advice and tips that we needed in order to fulfil our roles successfully. There were at times, towards the latter part of the internship where this became less frequent but would still have been useful. However, the culture of learning and support was very much clear throughout my placement.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic my experience was 95% virtual. Whilst this was different and unexpected I could very much still gauge and understand the company culture at the firm. We were limited with how many company-wide events and activities we could host and there were minimal social events and activities due to restrictions being in place. However, there was a strong working and collaboration atmosphere and when opportunities finally allowed us to meet up and socialise and play sports these occurred frequently and were a great chance for us to get to know one another. There was also a strong charity and volunteering culture which meant that many people raised a lot of money for charities. I really enjoyed working at GE fundamentally because of the culture.

To say that I enjoyed my placement would be a significant understatement, my time on my placement has proven to be the most valuable experience that I have and I have already used a lot of the hard and soft skills that I acquired at GE in my work. My placement with GE could not have been a better time to start my career and has very much put me on the launchpad for a strong career. I enjoyed the day-to-day work that I was doing and I felt engaged in the activities and work that I was doing, I felt very immersed in the teams too. I would most certainly go back.

Yes

Take one's time in researching about what division, role and function as well as location because this would be a crucial to making sure that you are confident and knowledgeable with what you are applying to. Make sure that you communicate well with the recruiters and that you put a lot of effort into making sure that you are prepared for the video interview stage by practicing the standard competency based questions. Make sure to be prepared for you interview too by knowing your cover letter and cv off by heart, and have a good knowledge about the business at this time so that you can show off that you have researched the role. Don't worry if you don't hear back immediately, there are lots of applications and GE want to make sure they give every candidate a fair recruitment experience.