Legal & Property Research Analyst Review

I joined E3 Consulting in the summer of 2016 as a Legal & Property Research Analyst intern. I very much enjoyed my internship at E3 Consulting and after my initial three months in the summer, I joined the team for the first term of the academic year as a Research Administrator and Brand Ambassador on campus. I enjoyed the fact that no day was the same - I was involved in a variety of sales, marketing and HR tasks in support of the business! E3’s collaborative learning culture and ethos made my internship feel more like a continuous process of further improving myself; developing personally and professionally through each day in the office!

At E3, I felt I was an important part of the team, was valued, appreciated and continuously encouraged. For example, at the beginning, I was quite shy and reserved; and it was a bit difficult at first to adapt to be more outward. As I come from a very different cultural background, I had not experienced being in an open and collaborate learning environment before. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to attend networking events throughout my internship. I attended various different events including Southampton Property Association, Hampshire and Dorset chamber events, I have become more confident in myself, having had the chance to practice my networking skills. I think all the team did their best to encourage me and make me feel very welcome. This helped me to feel comfortable to open up and be more relaxed at work. The flat-structure way in which the team operates meant I was genuinely able to contribute and share my own ideas.

Due to the guidance and support I received from my mentors and E3 colleagues, I developed a whole range of skills, from communication and networking skills, to time management and organisational skills. For me, having regular conversations with every team member, having answers to all my questions and being shown processes step by step was really useful. It was good that from the beginning I was told that mistakes are not something bad, but important in that they help you learn. This made me a lot more relaxed in my first few days and weeks. Being mentored at E3 Consulting by both Nicky and Zoe, together with peer mentoring, has helped me grow. For me this kind of support was something new. I was positively surprised by the continuous support I received. To be honest, I felt like a member of the ‘E3 family’, because of the warm environment and the way I could easily communicate with everyone. The most helpful part of mentoring was, I think, more about my personal and professional development. I was encouraged and guided towards a more positive and healthy mind set. I was given many different tasks to do that widened my perspectives on work. These guided my steps and learning, all allowing me to be more confident and to better achieve with my goals and dreams; especially the time I spend out of the office networking. All the guidance and support had an active role in supporting my career-related development, and helped me enormously in deciding what I wish to do in the future and how I can achieve that.

Every day spent at E3 was very different. I was involved in a wide variety of tasks and I felt that I was always doing something important for the business as well as for my development, and I never had the chance to feel bored! One day I may have been completing sales research on the automotive sector and another day I might be looking over job applications and supporting with an interview day.

My internship was ‘a real job’, with a meaningful contribution to the firm’s bottom line and alike expectations to deliver on me as there were on employees. I have been included in every aspect of the business and was especially involved in areas such as Marketing, Sales and HR. I was involved throughout the different stages of the sales process for the automotive sector from conducting sales research and identifying opportunities to drafting and sending sales letters. This highlighted to me the value in gaining knowledge on a particular sector; we need to know what’s happening in the automotive sector if we are going to recommend ourselves as specialists. Therefore, I feel that during my internship I was continuously challenged through my work and given a variety of responsibilities that got me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to stretch beyond my limits and evolve.

At E3 Consulting I got to develop a wide range of transferable skills that I will incorporate to finish my studies. For example, I developed a more positive and healthy mind set; this is something that is still in work progress because I tend to be harsh with myself and sometimes overthink. Overthinking brings negativity and I should let go of both. At E3, I developed strong employability skills: I have since been able to put these into practice, going to interviews at Assessment Centres and talking about my E3 experience. The interviewers have been intrigued by how much I’d learnt from E3 and impressed by the fact that I’d had a part-time job during University, whilst also managing my studies. Commercial awareness skills & the reality of doing business: I very much enjoyed my experience at E3 Consulting and working in a SME. I was able to be involved in most aspect of the business, and had the chance to learn many other interesting things about the wider business world from the team. Organisational skills & time management: Following, my summer internship, I managed to work part-time and be a Brand Ambassador in my first term. This was only possible by being systematic and organised and having a clear time management set-up to juggle work, study and my extracurricular activities. Research skills: by doing sales sector research and reviews of legal press I had the opportunity to improve my research skills; ensuring that I paid attention to detail as the same time as process information efficiently. Critical thinking skills – I was always being continuously encouraged to challenge and voice my ideas and opinions! Communication skills, networking skills – I have learnt how to communicate more effectively, pushing me out of my comfort zone when attending networking events and representing the firm at careers fairs.

In the office, everybody was down to earth and very friendly.

I believe my internship was very well organised across the board, from having a very thorough induction into the business, to having clear, well explained tasks, to formal reviews and a sign off procedure. Having daily catching up sessions shows how well we communicated and the efficient way in which my input was guided. The reflection and learning logs I kept were especially useful to note down observations and learning points and to track my progress and these supported discussions in the office.

At E3, all team members are subject to high standards of training through regular mentoring sessions and working in a collaborative learning environment. For me mentoring was something new. Being mentored at E3 Consulting helped me grow and I was positively surprised by the continuous support received. The most helpful part of mentoring was, I think, more about my personal development. I was encouraged and guided to gain a more positive and healthy mind set, and I was given different perspectives on things that guided my steps and learning, all allowing me to be more confident and to better deal with my goals and dreams. I believe that each team member spent a considerable amount of time with my training and development and I was constantly encouraged to ask questions and to engage as much as possible with my team to develop knowledge in different areas.

I would happily return to E3 in a Marketing-related role in the future.

At E3 Consulting I went to my very first Quiz night and I have attended numerous dinner events, ten pin bowling and great meals with the team. I believe the team is really sociable, relaxed and open!

Southampton in comparison to the cost of central London is relatively affordable. The cost of my rent for a studio was 600 pounds/month.

Numerous clubs in Southampton, the best club in Southampton, Oceana, being conveniently located at 20 minutes away from the office.

Southampton is a lovely and active city with museums, theatres and numerous events. I believe there were plenty of opportunities outside my work. For instance, I am now doing rifle shooting!