Recruitment Intern Review

My experience working at Intel has been extremely valuable. I have had amazing opportunities to get an insight into the realities of the working world. My team have always been really supportive and allowed me to join projects and accomplish tasks I never thought a student would be allowed to do. My role holds a high level of responsibility with the tasks I do on a daily or weekly basis, and if these are not completed then there are ongoing consequences for the company and the HR team.

Right from the outset i was made to feel part of the HR team. The HR department is made up of a number of smaller teams and I have worked alongside every single one and been welcomes and valued straight away. The nature of the team is very independent on a daily basis, whereby colleagues are often working on different tasks but often come together to tackle a challenging case. However they are always there to give advice, support and jump in whenever needed. As a result of this style of team work, you are quickly recognised for the work you do and build up good relationships with fellow colleagues.

I had frequent support however the specific person has changed a few times over my 13 month placement. My manager has remained consistent and we have regular 1:1 meetings every 2 weeks and often we fit in urgent ones randomly if we have topics or issues we'd like to discuss. This style of support is fantastic because it allows you to independently resolve issues but also have a senior figurehead to support your decisions and guide you. My supervisor and the rest of the team are also extremely helpful, although we do not meet on a regular basis (despite weekly team sync up meetings) they are always around to lend a hand, support or give advice/guidance if you need it.

My main role is to help recruit the next year's interns. As you can imagine this task takes a long time and therefore I had busy periods and quieter times. On a daily basis, I have reports to pull, regular meetings with different colleagues, frequent emails coming in and always ad-hoc tasks to complete. My manager has always been very flexible and left me to manage my own time (as this is a valuable skill every student needs to work on!), however on quieter periods she would let me jump on to projects and give me additional tasks to do, to keep me busy. At one point during the year, I was recruiting full time employees and supporting the recruiters full time which was a brilliant experience and extremely valuable!

Throughout my placement I had a lot of opportunities to take on additional tasks. These included re-structuring the immigration process for the UK to make sure it is more compliant with UK laws and helped to set up a better processes for when Brexit happens in years to come. This was really interesting because it has made me more observant. I also got the chance to support the creation of contracts and full time recruitment as small projects in quieter periods. I also produce and create reports on a weekly and daily basis which a lot of colleagues use frequently and lastly i often hold large group sync meetings and take minutes, run the agenda to make sure they run smoothly.

The experiences i have had are vital to my academic studies. It has taught me that although theories make sense logically, they cannot always be carried out in the real working world. I believe this will be really helpful to allow me to understand theories and perhaps where there may be gaps in them when they are transitioned into real business.

The atmosphere was a little bit tense when i first arrived because the company was undergoing organisational restructure and a lot of friends and colleagues had recently been laid off before i started. However, after the first few weeks right up until i left the atmosphere changed and became very relaxed, friendly and I've really enjoyed working here for the year. My team are lovely and always really welcoming and every employee greets you with a smile and hello's when you pass in the corridor. The atmosphere was surprising to me because i expected it to be a lot stricter because of the size of the corporation however, i have been pleasantly surprised.

Before starting I got to meet the other Interns at an Open Day, this was brilliant because it meant i was more comfortable on my first day and a little less nervous! On the first day we given new employee training and our laptops which was very organised and ran smoothly, then I was set to go! I think the organisation is dependant on departments but I've never experienced a lack of it in my time here.

At the start I was put on a lot of training courses. This was really valuable because it enhanced my time management skills and my ability to prioritise tasks. These are both extremely useful skills to be able to take back to University and onto my career so i am always happy to build on these. Alongside these skills working with a lot of different countries has taught me how to effectively communicate in many ways; over the phone, professionally by email and also to people who may find it more difficult to understand English. It has also allowed me to network with professionals and companies i could only imagine of meeting before and hopefully will open up many more doors for the future.

As you can imagine, HR deal with a lot of sensitive and confidential information so the roles based in Swindon are usually at a higher level that graduates. This however, does not mean there wouldn't be an opportunity but it is unlikely. Despite this, the skills i have learnt and worked on over the year will definitely help to obtain a role after leaving university, potentially in another company.

We have a strong intern community whereby we frequently do social activities including, bowling, meals out, BBQs and work related events. We always have lunch together and frequently meet up outside of work. This really helps when moving to Swindon because you can all support each other.

Swindon is fairly cheap to live in, rent is average and the general cost of socialising is fairly low. We have a range of different activities you can do including, restaurants, bowling, laser quest, ice skating and many others! Prices are fairly average outside of the chain restaurants etc. There is a really nice local area called Old Town nearby to the offices which is ideal to grab a quick lunch or meet some friends in the evening!

The nightlife in Swindon is rather limited. There are 2 areas, one with a nightclub and one with bars and nightclubs. If you are used to a large city, this will be extremely quiet, but it is still good fun to socialise with friends and have a few drinks in the bars. There isn't a university here so there isn't really student nights, but Thursday nights are cheaper than the weekends.

There are lots of activities both put on with Work and with friends made at Intel. We have done lots of fun things like bowling, meals out, birthday meals, work lunches and many more. We have a busy handover period when the interns train each other which is great fun, then throughout the year we usually meet socially twice a month as a large group!