Marketing Finance Analyst Review

I have enjoyed my placement so far at Intel, I have been challenged and I feel like I have gained skills which will help in my future career. I like the fact that you are treated as one of the team, and aren’t looked down on as ‘the intern’. You are given a real job with tasks which are critical for the rest of your team.

I feel really valued by my colleagues – I feel like I am one of the team and the tasks I complete are critical for the team so I have never felt like I am just the intern. They also are willing to spend time helping if I need help and explain things when needed. There is also no reason why they wouldn’t spend time giving you more work, even if it takes longer to explain.

Support and guidance wasn’t only from manager – It was from the full team in my case. I had weekly 1-1s with my manager to discuss any problems which needed support. I could also go to their desk or anyone in my teams desk at any time for help or support.

How busy I was varied on a weekly basis. Some weeks I had nothing then others I was really busy depending on where we are in the quarter. On weeks where I had less, members of my team would usually give me ad-hoc tasks to complete or I would have tasks which had no deadline to complete which I could go to at times of less work.

I was given full responsibility for all of my job tasks. All of my tasks are completed on a worldwide basis and affected more than just my team. Multiple teams relied on me therefore I had a huge responsibility to complete my tasks on time and accurately in order for other processes to occur.

The skills I have developed will help me in my future career, seeing as i have learnt the basic finance knowledge needed for a finance career. The training received was mostly on the job from mostly my team, not on a larger scale. All my soft skills have also developed over the year which will help at both University and the future.

The atmosphere is generally good in the office now. It’s a friendly office and open plan so everyone, including managers are sat together. It’s never that stressful unless its quarter end and as you’re all sat as a team its sociable but we do get all the work done as needed.

Its set up well, the placement is 13 months to enable a 1 month hand over between old intern and new giving you a months 1-1 training specifically for your new job. We also got to come to an event before we started to meet our teams, meet other people to live with etc. Once here you’re given a proper job role, enabling me to gain many skills over the year.

Training and development was mostly done in the first month. When I started I had a 5 week handover from the previous intern to me, though other interns probably had a more positive experience of this than me as my previous intern wasn’t keen on passing over any information other than the basics. Other than that there was online training and a few group trainings with other interns. Now any training which is needed is done on the job by members of my team.

Intel usually hire back a few finance interns each year, depending on if they want anyone to come back. This is the route most their graduates are hired by, so some say this year is like a one year interview. So there is a possibility of coming back if both I want to and Intel want me.

As there are around 50 interns, there is a good social scene with them. There are weekends away, nights out, sports all organised by an intern committee for all interns. The activities aren’t for all people but there are other social scenes for example with your team, or within your social groups with grads and interns. The social scene is definitely a lot less than what you experience at uni.

Cost of living was really cheap, even in the nice areas of Swindon such as Old Town. Socialising was slightly more expensive as Swindon is not a student place, but there was still plenty of options. There is bars, cinema, restaurants, bowling etc. all close by so even if there’s not as much as I am used to, there is still enough to do.

The nightlife wasn’t great. The bars and pubs are okay, but quite pricy as not a student place. If you are after clubs like at uni or are used to going out on week days then Swindon is not for you. I tend to go back to uni for the nightlife at weekends.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved outside of work, including sports and volunteering. Teams often also do a volunteering event once a year, my team recently went on a team day and spent a days volunteering. There are often emails asking people to volunteer for activities, so if you wanted you could take part there is the option.