Junior Account Manager Review

I was surprised at the life satisfaction I felt during my placement year. I've gained experiences this year that had I not worked for Atos I probably wouldn't have experienced in my life time, one of those things being moving to London.

What I imagined of the life of an intern is incomparable to the actual role. I have been given more responsibility than one could guess would be bestowed upon an Intern but I've strived through every challenge put in front of me. My colleagues are very grateful of the improvements I've made to Atos this year and the support I've provided within the team.

My manager is very hands on, she is always available should I need help with any aspect of the role and if she cannot help she will always offer an alternative of someone who could. Having said that, I do not feel babied, I have my own responsibilities and I am left to manage them knowing I have people to support me should I require it.

When I first started my placement I did a lot of shadowing and getting to know the business which I found difficult as quite a proactive person. I always want to be busy completing something. But the latter 8 months of my placement have been flown by, I have had enough work to fill my days and sometimes more. I do believe that the work you are assigned is dependent on the kind of person you are, if you want to learn more you need to do more and in that case you need to go out and look for the work.

My role consists of contracting large deals and managing a small team. As an intern, I hadn't imagined I would get that much responsibility but I love it! and I am very grateful for the faith that Atos has in their younger employees not to fail.

My University assignments in the past have covered theories that I never really understood until I started working at Atos, for example Supply and Demand. I feel in a better position going into my final year having had a year in industry than any of my friends who did not partake in a placement year. I have received outsourced training at Atos but what I found very useful was the online training courses when I was struggling in a particular area like Excel or Nessie CRM.

My experience to others may be slightly different as 50% of my time is spent on client site and 50% is spent in the Atos offices. I enjoy the relaxed feel the Atos office has where people can book their desks on a day to day basis and there is readily available facilities. I find the people at Atos very willing to talk to their colleagues and more than happy to answer questions. I very rarely find people are quiet, reserved or stressed.

The work placement set up was organized in terms of application process and assessment centers. The induction was outsourced which gave us a good training week to kick off our 12 month internship and also to get to know other interns in the company. I find that in comparison to graduates, Atos has a very small number of interns and the process is not yet perfected.

The company has offered me multiple outsourced training opportunities such as courageous conversations and intern induction. However, Atos does not tend to provide outsourced paid training for interns and therefore it is important to utilize internal resources like Lunch & Learn sessions, the online university portal and shadowing opportunities.

I am definitely looking to come back to Atos once I graduate. I find that once Atos has made the investment in you as an intern they encourage you to return as a graduate.

Atos have a GIA team which run events for Graduates, Interns and Apprentices on a regular occurrence across the country. These events give you the opportunity to meet people in the business that you may not meet on a day to day basis but in a similar position to you.

I work in London so understandably it is very expensive for both living and socializing. I don't imagine many people save money on their internship in London but the benefits of networking from going out socializing outweighs the negatives of the expense.

Most employees at the London office tend to go out every Thursday as a standard and then other team events and socializing opportunities might be organized through the week.

The account I work on promotes a healthy living initiative and so they try to get people to participate in team sports outside of work. My team are currently training to do the three peaks. I believe that there is always stuff going on outside of work but you need to ensure you are approachable and outgoing to be included.