Global Communications Intern [EMEA region] Review

Enjoyed it - there's a large community of approx. 50 interns that are hired annually - and there is a very sociable month handover period where the previous interns hand over their responsibilities to the new interns. Gained great experience throughout the year, and worked on really interesting projects that will really impact the world. Working on 4 focus areas; Artificial Intelligence, 5G, VR, and Autonomous Driving, was thoroughly interesting and will continue to interest me for the rest of my career moving forward.

During the 13 months, you are very much part of the team - with all of the same perks as a full time employee - as a blue badge, you have full access to all of the privileges any employee has, including discounts to stock, events, and involvement in the GPTW scheme.. The company also implements a recognition scheme, by which you are recognised with monetary value by peers/colleagues when you have added extra effort/value additional to your day to day requirements - which is motivating. I think in terms of value, you get out what you put in here - generally speaking :-) That said, some staff do tend to try and pass off dull tasks as 'projects' to you as a typical intern - but you can just say no if you don't have the bandwidth or you want to be involved in more stimulating tasks...

I would say that this varies from team to team - my role was a new role , and it was very much what I made of it. I would take the initiative to independently source support/guidance from my colleagues through asking relevant questions and booking 1:1's, to find out how I was perceived to be doing. When arranging 1:1's the information I gained was really useful, and productive, but I would have to make sure I ask the correct questions - which is a skill I have built upon over this year.

Again, I would say that this very much varies from team to team - in a comms role, it very much varies depending on what events/product launches are going on/ you are participating in at the time. Each quarter varies a lot with this - depending on the market opportunities & demand. I will say however that Intel is great on the thesis that if you are ever required to work overtime, including with occasional events that run over a weekend, you are entitled to claim the time back as holiday, or if you stay an hour later, you can leave earlier the following day, or arrive an hour later - providing that this is agreed with your manager.

As an intern, your responsibilities do have real business impact, and as an 'open door' work place, you can (provided you have bandwidth) approach any teams and ask for responsibility in any areas of work you are interested in. You are part of the team during your 13 month placement, and the market is your oyster.

Hugely. I travelled to other countries, I gained real experience in my role, and in an interview I would feel confident about communicating the business impact I have made, and real experience I have gained, as opposed to routing questions to 'group work' within a university module. Textbook theory is interesting, but real experience gained within the field is invaluable, and makes you much more employable - especially working with such a diverse, globally well known brand within the B2B sector.

In the entire office I would say that it is a lot quieter than I had expected, but it does have it's lively moments. The canteen is pretty modern, with music, but the working floors are fairly standard - but fine to concentrate in and get to work. Would say that the events are where the 'buzz' is. For a technology company that is so innovative and at the forefront of change with it's products - it could do with investing a bit more into the modernisation of the EMEA Hub site.

As I didn't have an intern to pass on my role, it was a bit different to the other interns - it was very AdHoc for what I would be getting involved with. I would argue that there could have been a more organised 'settling in' process, but I was happy to be independent and reach out to areas I wanted to. Would also say as a negative, that there was a distinct boundary between SMG and BMG work groups, with several social activities organised for BMG interns that SMG interns were told they were not allowed to attend due to budget alignment.

The online training hub is good - but I would say slightly outdated - the on the job training within my team was much more insightful and useful. During 1-1's with my manager I found out good ways I could develop my skills and further my chances of hire-back. I found my most worthwhile experience through travelling to countries for events to add real value and impact within the team - and their investment in my T&E/flights was much appreciated. However I would argue that with budget restraints, interns are very limited as to where they can travel and help out, which is a shame, as I would argue that this is a short-term investment for a long-term gain. Investing now, improves employee retention, motivation, and the enthusiasm to work for a global brand.

Very appealing, but unclearly communicated for how to go about getting hired back. As a marketing related intern, the way the company hires back in this particular office is slightly less appealing... In most cases, I believe interns are hired back through BMG, (business operations) which is not what I want to go onto developmental-wise - however that said, I have heard that it is easy to 'side step' into other areas once you are within the company as a graduate.

Yes - handover period consists of 100 interns with many social activities organised by the current interns. Other great site wide social events such as the Christmas ball with an open bar... Most teams regularly have F2f meetings with the global team - sometimes in the UK, sometimes around Europe - a time to bond with colleagues.

Rent is much cheaper - however as this is a 13 month internship a slight hurdle was that we had to arrange temporary accommodation for the first month, as house leasings tend to be 12 month contracts. We managed to find room at the local hospital which was okay but not that local to the site... Our house when we moved in after handover was great though and was only 15 mins walking distance from work - no cost for petrol.

Plenty of pubs, a few 'clubs'.. Tree is a pretty good club for Swindon, that we often go to if we are all around on the weekend, but then there are interesting clubs like 'Star Bar' which are probably more questionable. It's better than I had expected - and town and the shopping outlet are pretty close - with a pretty good range of places to eat, and buy clothes.

Yeah - they have the 'Corporate Games' which you can enter into a sport and compete with different businesses - quite a sociable event which is subsidised by Intel. The Site often have local events to attend such as wine tasting or gin tasting which can be quite good fun. There's also 'Airhop' in Swindon (external to work) which a few of us went to which was a fun activity to mix it up a bit..