Employee Volunteering Assistant Review

I really enjoyed my internship. I was provided with plenty of different projects to get on with and every day was different. The team I was working in (corporate responsibility) made my internship a really enjoyable experience. I was given the opportunity to work with a lot of different people which made the internship even more interesting.

I felt really valued by my colleagues; I was given projects that had real responsibilities and a lot of trust was put in me to deliver to a high standard. I received plenty of positive feedback during my placement which also made me feel valued by my colleagues. Everyone on the team made time for me.

My manager gave me great support throughout my placement. She was always willing to help me out and answer my questions if I had any. She was always happy to clarify any tasks that I didn't understand and gave me the right level of responsibility (i.e. enough that I had important things to do, but not too much responsibility for a summer placement).

I was kept busy throughout my placement, as my objectives were spaced out nicely over the 10 weeks. If and when some of my objectives reached a quiet point, there was always plenty of ad hoc duties for me to get on with. My manager was excellent at keeping me busy!

I was given the right level of responsibility during my placement. I had objectives that had real impacts on the team and others, and if I was not there to do them somebody else would have had to do them. However, they were definitely suitable for a summer placement and definitely were not out of my reach.

I study marketing at university so doing a marketing placement has provided more context to the things I have been studying during my degree. The workplace skills I have developed will definitely aid me in attaining future employment, and will play a part in me being successful in my future career.

The atmosphere in my office was good. Everybody in my team made me feel welcome and people were usually open to having a chat. Some days, when less people were in the office, it would be a bit more quiet - I much prefer working in an environment with lots of people and the chance to talk to others more.

Overall, the internship was set up really well. We were provided with accomodation and we were notified of any events well in advance (such as development day, 'present with impact' presentation training and our final presentations). We were provided with details on our roles, our managers, our buddies and our graduate talent manager well in advance of beginning and were given the opportunity to talk to these key people beforehand.

The company made a huge investment in our personal training and development. During the placement we had a day that was dedicated to our development, and we also received training on how to present with impact. In terms of my individual role, my manager and team definitely invested in me a lot by providing me with lots of opportunities to develop my skills.

Future employment prospects within Centrica are very appealing - after spending 10 weeks here I would love the chance to start the graduate scheme next year, however, we currently do not know the status of this. I believe that I have performed well and hope that this shows and that I ge the opportunity to come back.

The social scene was good among my fellow summer placement students. As I was based in Staines, I stayed in the Royal Holloway accommodation with about 38 other students. As there were so many of us, quite often we would do things together on Friday evenings and occasionally on the weekend.

Accommodation was provided free of charge for us, which was really nice and made things a lot easier in terms of cost of living. Being near London, things were slightly more expensive than other places in the UK, but it didn't pose much of an issue, and I managed fine with where we were.

Nightlife was good in the area. We quite often went out to the clubs in Windsor, and all of them were decent. We rarely went anywhere else. Unfortunately, entry and drinks were quite expensive, as were taxis to and from the clubs - the accommodation was quite far from any clubs.

About halfway through the placement we were invited to a 'get involved' event which was really fun; it involved playing dodgeball and having pizza. We also had the opportunity to join the Royal Holloway gym and there were tennis courts at our accommodation. The surrounding area has a few pubs and restaurants.