Summer intern, market operations Review

I enjoyed my placement as it gave me a chance to gain a greater understanding of the way that the company works and the services that it provides.

I felt very valued by my collegues. I was treated as one of the team from day one, being invited to all team events and meetings.

I have been given lots of support by my manager, with weekly one to ones to give updates and ask for support when required. My manger has also been happy to help me whenever else I may require, being very approachable and taking my problems seriously.

I have been generally very busy. There has been a mixture of slower and busier days due to the nature of my project but I have always had things to be getting on with.

I was working on a joint project with another intern; we were given full responsibilty for the completion of this project. I also had the responsibilty to take part in team hubs, updating the rest of the team on our progress and also leading the hub.

Due to the very independent nature of my degree a lot of the skills that I have developed such as team working wont be directly transferable to my studies. Additionally, I have greatly improved my excel skills during my internship, however these sort of technical skills I use infrequently in my time at university as it is a largely essay based degree. Although broader skills that have been enhanced as result of my internship, such as planning, will help me to achieve my full potential in my studies.

The overall atmosphere in my office was pleasant. There was a clear emphasis of the importance of hard work but it wasn't too serious as everyone was very friendly and happy to have conversations about their lives outside of work. The importance of saftely was greatly stressed which made me feel valued as it showed that the company really cared about my wellbeing.

The internship was well organised with a training centre at the start and the end of the internship. There was also an interim review and final review to make sure that you are on track. The only issue with organisation was that because of the length of the placement (12 weeks) it clashed with the start date of some universities, this was resolved by taking the clashing days of in annual leave, however the length of the placement meant that it is hard to make sure that it fits in all possible students summers. This could possibly be avoided if the internship was shorter i.e 10 weeks.

The company invested in my development greatly. We have had the opportunity to go to two training centres within the internship. I have also been offered many development opportunities being able to attend any training that is going onsite as well having the opportunity to support other programmes.

Very appealing, I have been given a very positive impression of the organisation and would be happy to pursue this further through the graduate scheme, which I may be accepted onto at the end of my internship.

There were 7 interns overall with 4 being placed in my office. We regulary met up for lunch and occasionally did things in the evenings. I have also been invited to socail events with other collegues such as Squash games and going to the pub.

I stayed in reading university halls whilst working which I found to be very cheap due to student rates. The cost of socialising was standard of a southern location.

I lived near reading so I imagine the nightlife was good, but I went home most weekends to visit my family so I have no personal experience.

There is a strong social network for new starters that organise activities outside of work, unfortunately as I was with the company in the summer months there was not that many opportunities organised due to most members taking holidays etc.