Marketing Intern Review

I enjoyed my internship very much, I was in a marketing team of the Petplan branch of Allianz based in Brentford. The work was very interesting and gave me a good grounding in marketing. There were two other interns in my office as well as some grads, so there was always someone to sit with and talk to at lunch. I think 9 weeks was also a good length of time.

I was given a variety of work, obviously some tasks more exciting than others, but I definitely felt that the work I was doing was valued by my colleagues. Sometimes I did tasks like research which supported one of their projects, and I also had a project of my own which I handled by myself. I would go out to team meetings and lunch and social events with them too.

I think I was given sufficient support by my manager, she sat across from me so I could just ask her if I had any doubts about anything. At the beginning of the internship, she also set up meetings for me with others in the departments and the agencies that we worked with, so that I could get a good grounding in marketing before starting my work. I also had a grad buddy who has very supportive.

At the beginning, my manager wanted me to have a background in al the marketing knowledge that I would need to do my tasks, so my days were quite full with reading and learning. For the rest of the time, I mostly had a good balance of work. Occasionally I would not have anything to do if I was waiting to hear back from someone for example, and if my manager was out, and everyone else was busy, it got a little boring, but this did not happen too often.

I was working on projects that would actually end up going out to customers, so I felt the work I was doing was really worthwhile, so as it was a lot of responsibility I had to be aware of that. There was also one project that I had complete ownership of, which was quite a lot of responsibility. It was a good balance though as I had the responsibility, but it would be checked by my manager before going out.

In terms of my degree, I study Spanish and Politics so it was quite unrelated - however the opportunities I got in presenting weekly to a variety of people has definitely helped my confidence. Also, the skills that I learn with regards to marketing will be very helpful, as I hope to go on to have a job in a marketing related field after I graduate next year.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere on the whole floor in my office, as it was a good mixture of casual and hard working - the team were all fairly young so they were good to get along with and always willing to help you, but occasionally it would be very quiet when everyone had a lot of work. The fun atmosphere also translated when we went out socially after work.

I had been an intern last year and there were quite a few differences. Before I started, I had to keep chasing the intern HR contact because it hadn't been sorted out what department I was going to be in - I only found out the Thursday before I was due to start on the Monday. Last year, I had contact from my line manager a couple of weeks before asking what I wanted to get out of the internship, which I thought was quite good. However, while on the internship, everything went very smoothly.

They tell you at the very start the ideal behaviours and what you are assessed against as an Allianz employee, which gives you a good reference of what to try and improve. There was also a mid way review with my line manager which gave me the opportunity to ask if there were any improvements I could be making. The internship is too short for any training, but I know the graduate scheme offers lots of opportunities for qualifications.

Very appealing as Allianz are a good company to work for by all accounts, they treat you very well. There is also a good graduate community which would be nice to be a part of. The only downside for me is that it is not a good graduate scheme if you are unsure about insurance - however, as most people who would apply for it would be, it would be appealing for them.

I went out a couple of times with my team and colleagues, and also had lunch every day with the other intern and the grads who worked in my office so it was good in that respect. However, there wasn't much opportunity to go out with the other interns as a lot of them were scattered around the country - I think perhaps a planned event by the company would have been good.

I lived at home near Reading, and my commute was an hour each way, so the train ticket was fairly expensive for the nine weeks, but it worked out cheaper than living in West London. We usually went out in London, so that was obviously expensive, but worth it as central London is good. My manager also paid for team lunches so that was good!

Nothing in Brentford, but Central London was quite accessible if you wanted to go out.

There was a company gym which was free to join, and also held classes which you could go to with your friends. I know some of the other interns had the opportunity to go on away day team building activities with their departments, but it is usually a matter of luck if your team is having theirs during the summer.