Summer language Intern Review

The P&G Summer Language Internship offered a fantastic experience to work in a corporate environment and being trained in an area that most of us would have been very unfamiliar with. The level of support given was excellent, yet initiative and freedom with projects was encouraged. I got to see how my language skills could directly benefit a business environment, and, unlike other internships my friends had participated in, I felt the project work I was given was of value to the company.

The Payment Services department is structured in teams of which each intern becomes a part of. I felt I was valued by my colleagues due to the amount of help and encouragement I was offerered throughout the internship. My project was of real benefit and this definitely helped to make me feel like a part of the team.

I had weekly meetings with my manager where I received direct feedback. I also had regular update meetings with other members of staff interested or involved in my given project. I felt my work was in no means unvalued or unimportant to the company. The value and support I received from my colleagues was also of great use and high importance to me.

This is defintiely a hard one to rate as this varied so much on a daily basis. Doing project work meant I was in control of my daily tasks, meaning that some days I was able to just continue with the work free of interruptions. Other days could consist of meetings, presentations, phone calls and deadlines. However there was definitely always work to be done.

I was in managing my own project which felt like a huge responsibility. However, you are assigned a "buddy" on your team as well as a "intern buddy" for the general placement. This meant there was always someone to go to for questions. My manager oversaw my project yet it was more responsibilty to lead the project on an everyday basis.

Although I haven't yet completed my degree I am positive that my experience here will greatly aid me in future years. My Excel and Outlook skills have greatly improved, as has the level and vocabulary of my written French and German due to the nature of the emails I was expected to write. I've learnt the discipline of working in a corporate environment (culture shock for a student!) which I believe will really help my studies in final year. Having a better idea of what I'd like to work as in the future, will also help my focus for 4th year.

Sadly I was sat near, but not with my team. That aside I really liked the group I sat with and was developping a good relationship with them after the first few weeks. The working environment was quiet and focussed (as expected) yet "fruity Wednesdays" and "friday fun" definitely lightened up the mood.

I was very impressed with the level of organisation given. All interns were given a full onboarding, an individual and relevant project, and assigned buddies and managers to go to for help and support.

The onboarding took up almost an entire week of our precious 10 week internship, so it was obviously important that the history, values and structure of the company was made known to us. I was taught new computer skills through the company, got introduced to senior members of staff and allowed the opportunity to collaborate on other projects in order to better my knowledge of Payment Services.

From working as in intern within the P&G organisation it is clear that they value their employees and provide a great place to work. Project work and team work are focussed on just as much as everyday tasks and the development of new initiatives makes P&G an exciting and varied place to work.

The 2011 intern intake was the smallest they'd had thus far, however we still formed a tight team, meeting for lunches and going out occasionally at the weekend. We were also involved in birthday parties and a leaving-do of another member of staff.

Newcastle is known for its cheap nights out. Food and accomodation is also relatively inexpensive.

It's Newcastle.....! Cheap and lots of bars, restaurants, cafes, clubs, cinemas and theatres in the area.

We were here for such a short amount of time, but the business park offered many activities and schemes to get involved in, and P&G had a gym on site which could be used by all employees.