Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed working at Capco for 10 weeks. It is genuinely one of the most welcoming work environments I have ever been in and you immediately feel like you've been there for months. I was set very challenging work and was thrown right in the deep end; which I find is the best way to learn. I was given a large amount of responsibility from very early on and this was because the project managers were always looking to push you further and really play to your strengths. Moreover, there is an enormous emphasis on self-improvement and therefore things to improve on are always focused on. By the end of the 10 weeks this made me a much more all rounded individual who had learnt a phenomenal amount.

To involve their interns as much as possible Capco invite them down to as many 'pre-internship' events as possible. Once you get to these events everyone knows who you are and this really makes you feel welcome. With the allocation of a 'buddy' I was able to ask any questions before arriving and then spotted a friendly face when I got there. Having a 'coach' also meant that there was someone senior in the firm advising you throughout the 10 weeks. Once a met my project team I felt immediately welcome as a number of events were arranged for my arrival. The role was centralised around teamwork, therefore getting to know this people straight away helped me a lot. They were there to challenge me and to help me become a better consultant. The people are most definitely the firm at Capco, and every single one of them was fantastic.

The point of many internships is to give you an insight into their company for a short amount of time to see if it is the right field for you to go in to. At Capco, they go ten steps further. They do not just show you the field of management consultancy, but they show you what it is like to be a Capco management consultant. By constantly challenging you and giving you more responsibility, the project managers were always trying to make me a better consultant. We also had regular progress meetings to see if I was enjoying my role and felt I was being challenged adequately. I had a great relationship with my project managers and felt they were extremely helpful.

To begin with I was learning a completely new role and therefore the work load was not too difficult. However, I was quickly given more and more to do and felt I had enough time to complete everything to be my best ability. I was also involved in a lot of extra work outside of the office. I was always supported to complete this work as long as my project work was completed within specified deadlines. At times, especially when we were close to client deadlines, the work load got very heavy, but this was always something I expected in the first place.

I do not feel "running the show" is a term that can ever be used in a team based project in consultancy. Everyone relies on each other equally and therefore I feel that a different term should be used; namely significance of responsibility. The work we were doing was always going to senior stakeholder management, but sometimes the significance of the work would determine how high the report went. There were numerous times were my project manager supported me in producing a deliverable that would go to very senior stakeholders and he had the trust in me to do this to a very high standard. There were other times that the work would just be to support another individual while they produced a similar report. Being a consultant really tests how you can work within a team and I think the responsibility that I was given over my 10 weeks allowed me to really develop these team based skills.

The 10 weeks really allowed me to get myself involved with as much or as little as I wanted to do regarding extra training. There is an enormous training database that is available to all Capco employees and I fully utilised this by taking additional training in power point and other financial services based training. The plethora of skills I learnt at Capco are very transferable and I definitely believe that they are going to significantly aid me in my final year of University. A large amount of work was also based around Excel, which may not necessarily help me for my final year, but will definitely aid me in my further career.

As I was working on client site, I did not spend a huge amount of time in the Capco office itself. However, from time to time I was able to revisit the office and whenever I did the atmosphere was always a lively one! While working on client site, I was working within a rather large team and therefore the atmosphere was always positive. Everyone was working in teams and this kept spirits high. It was also great to see that everyone, at all levels, was always improving from things they had learnt from other employees. The ethos of Capco is to never really be able to feel like you are in a hierarchical work place as everyone's input is as important as the next. Thus the general atmosphere was always great.

The internship team was absolutely fantastic! They were a great team who always offered us advice whenever we needed it. From beginning to end the internship was so helpful and really helped us settle in. The whole process was extremely organised all the way from recruitment to our final leaving event. The partner's involved were always willing to speak to us and answer any questions we had. Furthermore, the internship team were also able to arrange a lunch with the Capco CEO; an event that gave us a great insight into the future of the firm. Overall they could not have been more organised and this really helped the whole internship flow.

In terms of training I was given the opportunity to learn as much or as little as I wanted. I previously outlined the training I did, and it was all extremely helpful.

I was lucky enough to be offered a graduate role with Capco starting next September.

There were a number of events set up for the graduates and these helped us settle in to the wider community.

I was lucky enough to stay with a friend over the 10 weeks, therefore my only outgoing costs were travel and living expenses. I have never lived in London, so comparing this to where I live at the moment, Nottingham, it was a huge difference. I always expected this though, so it did not come as to much of a shock.

The London nightlife is awesome. I was working around St Paul's, which is mainly full of bars, but whenever I went back to the office there was always something going on.

Being at Capco is very similar to being at University in some senses. There are endless clubs and sports teams to get involved with. If there isn't something for you, then you are encouraged to set something up. From music groups, to yoga, to bootcamp fitness sessions in the park, there is always something going on at Capco.