Summer Student Placement Review

I had really interesting work, had the opportunity to work with like-minded people and learnt about the wider operations and markets of the business.

Colleagues were excellent at providing feedback and including me e.g. in team meetings.

My line manager would regularly check up on me, other members of the team were also keen to make sure I was productively engaged and seemed to look out for suitable tasks.

Busy but often without specific deadlines.

Typical tasks involved background research for other team members, which was important but not essential. However, given my level of experience, the amount of responsibility felt appropriate.

I think the commercial awareness, and academic context to an extent, has given me definite ideas about future careers and has direct links to degree studies.

The atmosphere in the office was quite serious on a day-to-day basis, but people were always happy to chat and often organised lunches/after-work drinks etc.

The placement was well set up, with no real problems with HR/IT etc., and other team members seemed to have had some time to think about my role and potential tasks before I got there.

I would say the whole internship felt like a 'personal training and development' process, whilst actually working on the job.

I've had some discussions with my line manager about the importance of keeping in touch with him and the team, and how after further study I would be in a good position to work for the company.

Colleagues were fairly regularly organising social events and activities (meals, drinks, films etc.)

I was commuting into central London, so travel costs were quite high, as was the cost of socialising, yet other colleagues were quite good at finding cheaper options.

Partly due to needing to travel home, I didn't totally get to experience the area's nightlife, but went to a few pubs with colleagues and friends in the area.

As mentioned above, colleagues would organise social events, including barbecues, drinks etc.