Employ.ed Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my Employ.ed Internship, and found out a huge amount about the area in which I worked. Sometimes I felt like my line manager was not there enough, and so it was hard to get feedback on my work, or ask about things I was unsure of. However, we did schedule Weekly Catch-Up Meetings where these issues were discussed. I was allowed to get really hands on and tackle much bigger things I never expected, which was great.

I felt really valued by my colleagues - the other people in my office were always around for a chat and always made sure I could come to them if I needed anything, and when I did, they always made sure to help me as best I could. I felt they praised my work when I did well, or gave constructive criticism if not. The only downside was that I spent several days in an office alone, which I found difficult and a bit lonely!

The Employ.ed team were great, providing thorough workshops throughout the period of my internship. They always pointed me to the correct people if I had a practical issue, such as getting a staff card or finding out how to reclaim tax. On the other hand, my line manager was not always there, and there was not really anyone else I could go to on the job. This meant that often I had almost no work to do, so the days went slowly, and there wasn't always the opportunity for feedback when I completed work. Whenever feedback was given though, it was thorough and, if my supervisor was about, I felt able to ask them if I needed guidance or support.

I was often left alone with little to do which meant I was very often bored. This was partly due to my manager being off sick a lot, and not being left with enough work or good enough instructions. When she was in, because she had been off, she was always very busy, and sometimes forgot about me. When I did have a lot of work, it was thrown at me all at once, which was stressful.

I was given an awful lot of responsibility. I got to liaise with clients and try and get the best deal after contacting the number of suppliers required by law. It was only me involved in this process, liaising with the customer and the supplier. I also organised a seminar with very little help, and was given several other tasks such as writing reports to work on independently. I was always free to have a go at things too, and my boss would go over them with me (if she had time) afterwards.

The skills I learnt were very useful. It gave me an insight into an alternative career path which I had never considered before. It also gave me practical legal examples to use when I progress onto honours studying. I also found the stakeholder and equality training I received very useful, and it was good to be given so much independence, which is vital for honours year study, teaching me how to self motivate.

I worked in two offices. The first, where I spent most of my time was very dull and boring, with hardly any people ion it (3 others) and only one other was in my department. This meant it was a very quiet and dull environment - no one talked, and the office itself was very bare and unappealing. I sat facing a wall, not even the others in my office. It was awful if my line manager did not turn up there! My other office was much busier, and everyone there was always very friendly and willing to chat. I sat facing people, and there were about ten people there were always folks about. There were lots of different generations with lots of stories. We even went out for a meal together.

Employ.ed itself were very well structured, with the three events, and useful things to do at each event. The application and interview process ran smoothly, and we were well linked with other interns going through the same experience as myself. The actual internship was less well organised, with me being unable to complete some of my set projects due to lack of feedback. It also seemed quite random what I was tasked to do, but that was probably just the nature of the job, although it would have been better to have more background tasks planned for when I was less busy.

They invested in me a great deal, planning meetings with external people who could teach me something new, allowing me to go out and attend excel training, and ensuring I completed all the equality training etc. They also let me attend an away event with other staff from other institutions in the same sector to learn more and network. Again, Employ.ed invested a great deal, helping us to achieve an award out of the internship scheme. They were also very good at letting us choose which ways we personally wanted to develop, and helping us to achieve those goals.

Future employment prospects are great - they actually created a part-time post for me so that I could continue to work with them during term-time! I can see myself building links within the organisation, and perhaps even working there in the future if that is the career route which I decide to take.

With fellow interns, we met every week for a drink on a Friday night to discuss the week and generally have a catch-up - we even had a "pot-luck" dinner, which was a great laugh. In the office, there was a catch up every Monday which was a great chance to socialise, and within my busier office, we even went out for lunch a couple of times!

It was in the same city as where I study so I stayed in my flat (but rent isn't cheap!) and it was the Fringe Festival for part of my internship so prices rocketed. Edinburgh is not the cheapest city for drinks/eating out.

Edinburgh has a great nightlife with cheap clubs like Hive, to posh George Street clubs - something for everyone. There is also a fairly good music scene, and there are theatres aplenty and loads of pubs. I loved the nightlife. the best part was when the fringe was on you could go and see any show you wanted after work, and loads of them were free!

I didn't do anything outside of work that was run by work. There was a staff yoga class, but that was all I saw. I did, however, join the local gym, and had so I did that outside of work and also completed some online courses.