Business Analyst and Field Support Review

I thoroughly enjoyed working at Microsoft through out the year. The corporate culture was very relaxed and friendly, with many people keen to help you develop your skills and experience. I was given the chance to develop a wide variety skills by being placed in challenging situations inside and outside of my job role. There are multiple opportunities & activities to get involved in outside your job role throughout the year (including shadowing in different departments) but you need to be proactive in order to get these opportunities.

Despite working in a global team during my year at Microsoft the team I worked with embraced my skills sets and got me involved with numerous projects across the globe helping team members identify market trends, competitor landscaping and financial consolidation.

The support my manager gave me was extremely good. We had weekly 1 to 1's to ensure I was coping well as well ensure projects were being developed as planned. I could also contact my manager when he was not in the office (which was often as he worked form home or abroad most the time) with great ease via Lync if I had any urgent queries or issues. I developed a good relationship with my manager and he has offered to provide support and advice after my placement has ended.

Part of my job role was providing support to other team members on an an ad-hoc basis. This meant that there were fluctuations on my work load, some days I could leave a little early other days I stayed late to ensure deadlines were met. It is important to note that many people in Microsoft work on a flexi-time basis, this was to my preference due to my working style. It is not expected for interns to work outside of office hours, I did it because I preferred to work in those hours.

I was given a few of my own projects to manage and run at Microsoft, which was great project management experience and I used software such as Microsoft Project to run these projects. However, working for a global team meant that I was often providing high level support to other managers and directors which meant I didn't run or own as many projects as I would have liked within my job role. Outside my job role I got involved with charity projects and intern buddy 101 team (who are responsible for the induction of the following year's interns into Microsoft) these projects provided me with great experience.

Without doubt the placement year a Microsoft proved invaluable with developing my skills, the key ones for myself were; interpersonal skills (working a global team), analytical skills (due to my job role) and presentation skills and organisational planning skills (through projects I got involved with outside my job role). I have definitely gained a better understanding of what my strengths and weaknesses are which I will think will benefit me greatly when applying for graduate jobs further down the line.

- Good friendly relaxed atmosphere in Microsoft - My office was relatively empty as many team mates worked remotely, uncommon issue for most as I was working in a worldwide team/

- Events set-up through out the year bringing the intern community together - could have been more frequent

- Interns get to do MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) and MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate) exams for free. - My team sent me on an all expenses paid training course in London for 3 days, developing my analytical skills

- Experience from the year is invaluable, no direct job offers are made after completing the internship - To get on the MACH scheme- all interns must apply online again, if successful however interns get fast tracked to the assessment centre - MACH scheme job roles are more limited than the intern roles, there are no analyst or finance position available.

- Generally good, organised bar crawls set up throughout the year.

- Accommodation/ living costs are cheap if living in student areas - Going out is expensive, drinks can be very expensive on certain nights.

- Wide variety of bars available - Clubs fairly small and expensive

Microsoft Excel in this area: - Lots of charity event to get involved in - Chance to get involved in large promotion shows such as the Gadget Show Live events - Mentor Scheme- allowing you to gain a mentor in a different business area- shadowing opportunities available.