Summer Internship Review

I got to work with a great team of people and I was allowed to work under my own initiative, however, I did feel slightly under worked at times.

As this was quite a short placement I didnt have a great deal of time to really get to know my colleagues on a personal basis, however, I did get along well with those that I worked closely with.

My managers were great, but were quite busy so I didn't get quite as much guidance as I would have liked. However, this did mean that I would have to work under my own initiative a lot more and become more confident in the judgement calls I would have to make, where previously I probably would have just sought the advice from my management team.

I did feel slightly under worked. It was certainly a placement where the more you put in the more you get get, but I had exhausted all my ideas of what work I could do and so did find myself with spare time on my hands towards the end of the week.

I was really told what I had to achieve, and it was up to me to determine how best to achieve it. I quite enjoyed this as it meant I could develop my own ideas and so I believe I was given a fair amount of responsibility in my project.

I believed that I gained further experience in general management and working in an office environment. I also think that the internship helped me get over my fear of moving so far away from home for a job, and in that sense I gained some valuable life skills. However, as my degree is in Marketing, I think that the role will have little to contribute in my further studies. I suppose that, what it has shown me is the personal side to enforcing strategies. In my studies we learn a lot about the development of strategies but it is hard to really see the more every day challenges of carrying out these changes on the ground level, and so I suppose that that is another useful area of development for me.

The atmosphere was always buzzing which was good.

I felt that the internship was set up with more of a focus on how it was seen externally as opposed to how it actually functioned. Many systems had been set up to make it appear fantastic throughout all areas of the application process, but many of these promises failed to meet expectations. It did feel that more of a focus was put on how to develop the appearance of the programme as opposed to developing its interns themselves which is of course what the programme is meant to be about.

I didnt really recieve much training but then my role didnt really require it. My managers on the ground were great and ensured that I was fully clued up.

I feel that the company could benefit from shifting their focus away from trying to increase the appearance of their schemes to their stakeholders and attracting potential employees, and to instead put the focus back on the interns they actually employ. The roles themselves are still quite good and so I would not rule out future employment with the company, although there are some weak areas within the scheme which I feel could be addressed.

The internship was quite large but unfortunately I was based away from the main body of other interns and so for me there were few opportunities to socialise with fellow interns.

I was put up in student halls which had a good location to the city centre and the train station.

Pretty good night life and a great oppurtunity to explore a new city.

Unfortunatly not.