Retail Management Intern Review

The opportunities presented during the internship were fantastic. The opportunities to get involved with meetings, take on your own projects, take part in leadership courses and travel to different destinations around the country to meet with different business departments and understand various dimensions of the business provided a great insight into the business, and is a great way of networking! The internship however is very self-motivated so you have to set yourself goals and challenges. More direction may have been preferable for some, but all round an amazing experience and great knowledge into management.

It was difficult to provide an input due to lack of experience, and a lot of the job is just observing and learning therefore your value may not appear very clear. However the colleagues all treat you with respect and are more than willing to help you learn.

The opportunity to engage with various individuals throughout the business is fantastic, its extremely easy to network and if your direct line manager can't help its easy to contact someone else who can. Everyone is extremely friendly, however if you would like extra support or guidance you really need to ask.

I was fairly busy due to attending meetings and courses and getting involved on the shop floor, however as previously stated it is completely self-directed and you have to set yourself challenges and have questions you want to find out as there isn't a structured programme for the entire internship.

There is fairly big responsibility as you get provided with a management badge which immediately prompts you as accountable and responsible on the shop floor, and comes with a knowledge of the business and willingness to work hard and be a great ambassador for the business. You should expect customers to come and ask you questions and you should strive to know the answers. We also got given a consultancy style project working alongside the continuous improvement team to improve efficiency across the business, which was a huge responsibility and extremely exciting.

This internship provided an in depth insight into management roles. The skills I have developed such as public speaking, team leadership, time management for projects, writing consultancy reports, analysing data and presenting presentations, communicating with customers and understanding the business are all high valued skills which are transferable to any job which stands me in a great position for any job I go into in the future. Also M&S is a really respected name to have on your CV!

The atmosphere was competitive in terms of aiming to beat other stores in the region, and want to do better across the format and the division which means everyone is working hard and is excited to do well, which is extremely positive.

In terms of training and excursions the internship was extremely well structured however as previously stated, a lot of self-motivated learning is required. In the future, it could benefit from having more structure for day-to-day activities.

The company was firmly invested in us, they sent us to London for a fit to lead course which was great in which they put us up in a hotel and we also met the head office team. We also attended various visits such as to castle donington distribution centre, knowledge to sell events, and visiting different stores, all expenses paid. This really shows M&S want to develop the skills of their people and are strongly invested in each individuals learning and development.

Extremely appealing due to the vast amount of roles available and the ethos of the business is extremely admirable.

This could be improved, there weren't really any social events however me and the other interns arranged various socials so it was great to get to know everyone better outside of work.

The cost of living in Leeds is great, its my usual student area so i'm used to the prices which are very reasonable. The city is great for socialising. Very cheap if you know where to go and find the student deals!

Very lively, a night out for everyone.

Not really.