Finance Intern Review

I don't think the company new what to expect of an intern student and thus the job wasn't pitched at the right level.

Everyone made a big effort to get involved and integrate me into the company. I've made lots of friends , many of whom i'm still in contact with.

The company had a prescribed development programme, and my direct supervisor made lots of effort to make time available though much of this focused on the job and not my personal or career development.

Generally speaking I had enough to do or could easily obtain more to do. There were inevitably times when I had too much to do but that happens in every job.

I think I did have a reasonable about of responsibility but the importance for such responsibilities and adequate training was not always offered.

One of the biggest experiences to take away from the internship is how to adapt in a quick-paced environment and how to handle challenging situations. There are things such as communication skills etc which i can carry on beyond my degree.

The company makes a huge effort to ensure that the working environment is comfortable. This included regular consultations about the needs and requirements. Everyone sits together in an open office and face-2-face communication is encouraged.

For the first few weeks I didn't have a set supervisor, the team leader left a week into my placement and there wasn't a set training routine (though by the time I left, a training scheme had been set up). I arrived and for several weeks I didn't have any set tasks or roles. I didn't feel as if the company had made a role available prior to my arrival and it was almost as if the company had forgotten about my arrival. I was the only intern within the Finance Department yet there were a number of other interns across the business. None of the departments had worked together to arrange any networking for the interns, and in my case my function did not known of the existence of other interns. It felt like an information failure and wasted opportunity to share & pool resourced.

I was given the bare minimum that all new starts were given including a generic introduction to the company. There were the occasional bits of job specific training that took place throughout the year as and when needed.

I could imagine myself working at the company. There's an element of right company wrong job at play.

Given this a middle of the road rating because many of the interns (myself included) did not know that there were other interns in the company. Amongst colleagues our department had a social rep and we made an effort to socialise outside of work.

I found Leeds to be quite an expensive city to live in particularly for food and socialising. The bars were not particularly cheap, nor was travel or eating out.

Leeds was a good city to live in. Small but very metropolitan. A good range of restaurants, comedy clubs and huge variety of bars to cater to everyone's preferences.

The company has a forum where there's all sorts of information about clubs, sports teams, events and even people selling stuff.