Readiness Co-ordinator Review

The people I worked with made me look forward to coming into work due to how friendly they were and also how helpful they were.

I'm sure that my team valued me which was shown when I left when my manager gave me a lovely speech about all that I have achieved from my internship. However, my team were not the sort of team to praise you on a daily basis for work that you had done as it was standard work and most people did not actually see what you did.

At Microsoft it is very 'self serve' which means that you are expected as an individual to go out into the business and look for opportunities to develop yourself personally to aid your career. This meant that your managers will not actively seek out opportunities for you but will help you if you say that you want to do a certain thing e.g. gain event management experience by allowing you to take part in events.

My core role was extremely quiet something which I highlighted to my manager and university support team early on. This is something which did not change throughout my internship but both my manager and university support team were fully supportive of me entering a different department and working for other managers. This worked well in my favour as my core role was not something which interested me and so I could move into the Marketing department and gain valuable experience.

I was the only person in EMEA to do my role and I was delivering important information about product launches to our agents which had direct contact to customers. This meant that I was handling sensitive information on a daily basis and any mistake on my behalf could result in customers being lost.

I have gained a variety of skills and important experience in the field I wish to enter into as a career which would not have been possible if I did not do a placement year. I have also increased my confidence through feedback gained from managers on my ability.

As previously mentioned, my team weren't always in the office and so it was usually myself and another intern. Luckily I got on really well with them but awarding a low score due to the fact that my team weren't in regularly as most people would be in conference calls each day. When they did come in, however, I got on very well with them and could have a laugh and joke with them all.

Awarding a low mark due to my role having very little work and no opportunity to take on more work within my team. There was also no meetings with the university support team to check how we were doing and provide feedback to them on possible improvements, however, I believe this will now be in place for new interns. There was also a mid year and final year event to bring all the interns together from London & Reading.

As previously mentioned, Microsoft is self serve and so if you want an easy life and achieve nothing you can do that but if you want to develop strengths and skills you are required to go out into the business and look for projects and training that can help you do that. There is a lot of opportunities such as taking part in events, working in different departments, being part of intern teams and also training which is both online and classroom training provided. Microsoft Office exams are also free to take (both 2010 & 2013) along with MTA exams.

The MACH scheme is great for any graduate with a lot of training and fun experiences and travel. Once you've worked at Microsoft you will honestly feel sad to leave as you do grow to be part of a family in your team. Everyone is so so welcoming and always wiling to help even if you have just met.

It started off well with nights out being planned but kind of phased out throughout the year but then for me, it was not that important as I came to Microsoft for the work experience.

The cost of rent in Reading was between £300-360 (houses of 4-6). Those in London would have paid double for rent.

Lots of clubs e.g. Q cub, Sakura, Yates..

Not to my knowledge, however, you do get 3 volunteering days each year.