This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The project I was given was interesting and I was surprised by the amount of responsibility and freedom given to me. There were also quite a few side projects on offer which gave variety to the work I was able to do. I was very happy in the end with result of our project and the work I was able to do.
I very much felt an equal member of the teams I worked in, and the working atmosphere in general was one of support and help. The general feeling across interns was that we were treated with the respect of permanent employees. I certainly felt valued by my colleagues, both interns and permanent employees.
My supervisors put in a lot of effort to give me support and I never felt afraid to ask them questions. They were eager to give me and my peers help whenever it was possible. Our internship manager was also very happy to help if we had problems, and answer any questions if certain things were unclear.
The project size was appropriate for 10 weeks, and so I had a good amount of work to do each day. However on the balance for some days between meetings and work was a bit off. Overall though the balance was very good though, and there was always an opportunity for me to pick up other work if I was not able to do work on a particular thing.
I was working in a team with 2 other interns and we were given a lot of freedom and responsibility which I felt was appropriate for the project. We were able to make decisions by ourselves, but if we did need advice from our supervisors they were happy to give it.
The projects I worked on were web enterprise applications, which are not covered in university courses. So the skills I learned have widened my range of skills specifically in web development and good coding practice. I also gained a lot confidence in my development and communication skills as a result of this internship.
The Company
All the employees that I met were very friendly and I did not really feel that the atmosphere was stressful. People were happy to take time out to help me and the other interns. People in higher positions were happy to share experiences and talk to us, and were very approachable in general. There was also a lot of collaboration between colleagues with a lot of tools to help.
My project was very well prepared, and I felt my supervisors had put a lot effort into my placement so that it would run smoothly. Other general events were also organised very well such as leadership speaker series and round tables with senior leaders. We were given accurate information on how the internship would progress and when and how we would be reviewed.
There was a lot of support in terms of both software development experience and also soft skills experience. There were lots of networking opportunities and we had a lot of support in our presentation skills. As I have said elsewhere there were opportunities to branch out into other projects and pick up further skills.
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Company Car
Subsidised/Company Gym
National Travel
International Travel
Financial Bonus
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Above 25 days holiday
Working from home
Healthcare from home
Healthcare/Dental
Travel loan
There is an opportunity for interns to get a graduate scheme offer from the internship, without further assessment. It also very much seems that American Express wants you to succeed and wants to given you a graduate offer. As for permanent employees, the promotion prospects seem pretty good however I do not have first hand experience of this.
The Culture
There were many networking events between technology, finance, marketing and operations interns and especially we as technology interns were good friends by the end of the internship, and hope to keep in contact in the future. Other employees were similarly friendly so I would say socially, employees in generally are very amicable.
The internship was in Brighton and so the cost of living was quite high, not as much as London but the prices are rising there and it was difficult to find reasonable accommodation for 10 weeks. Bar/restaurant/food etc. prices were slightly above average but not crazy. There are also a lot of supermarkets in Brighton if you want to cook for yourself and others.
Brighton generally has a good nightlife and is 50 minutes on the train from London, so there is a wide choice of places to go.
There were quite a few sporting activities, talks and events advertised outside of work.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
South East
September 2015