This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The KPMG summer vacation scheme was hugely enjoyable. The work given to me was interesting and varied. I met a lot of people who were very welcoming and friendly and encouraged me to seek the insights and opportunities I wanted to gain from the internship. I often found myself getting in early because I was enjoying the work so much and found it so interesting.
I always felt valued by my colleagues. My contributions were considered and respected and often used. I was invited to team socials despite my short time there and was included in all team meetings and email updates throughout my time. Nearly all the people I worked with were more than willing to share their insights and take some time out to catch up, talk about their work and ask me how things were going. I felt welcomed very quickly and that continued throughout the internship.
Almost all of my managers and supervisors were extremely supportive and gave me great guidance. My performance manager - the manager who I reported to constantly regardless of the project - was very effective at giving me direction and focussing me on objectives for my internship. He was also excellent at helping me identify some weaknesses and giving me ways and opportunities to develop them. My individual project managers were on the whole fantastic - they answered me questions on the projects and supported me in the work I did, giving me feedback where necessary both on what I did well and how I can improve for next time. The only reason I have not given this a 10 is an unfortunate experience with one manager who was rude, impatient and demanding with very little people management skills. Working with them was tiresome as they were constantly pestering for updates and for certain tasks to be done that were out of my control. They were not clear on any deadlines even when asked, but got very frustrated when jobs were not done instantly. However this was most certainly the exception.
Most of the time I had a good balance of work to do, not so much I felt overwhelmed but enough that I didn't get bored. However on occasion I did finish the work quicker than the team anticipated, or in some instances there was simply nothing I could do due to security restrictions on the project and thus was left having to keep myself busy with online training. With a little forward planning I feel this could have been avoided.
As an intern you shouldn't expect a large amount of responsibility but when I asked for more responsibility (within reason) I was usually given it, such liaising with different teams and taking ownership of small parts of the project. A lot of my work was directly implemented into the project and the tasks I was asked to do affected deliverables within the project, so in that sense I had a responsibility to ensure I was contributing to the highest standard I could. I was also given access to privileged information and was entrusted not to spread it.
I learned a lot of valuable skills, both on the projects and through training with my manager. I learned how to work with a variety of different people in different teams and began to understand how I myself work best. I also learned some key skills in computing software such as Powerpoint and Excel which will be invaluable in the future and I will be able to take them back to university and into my future career.
The Company
The atmosphere was professional but reasonably relaxed. Each team had a slightly different atmosphere but for all of them were friendly and open. The office layout was conducive to an open and collaborative team environment through the use of hot-desks and "breakout" spaces. Everyone was open to taking coffee breaks to chat and the general atmosphere was extremely welcoming.
Initially the internship felt very well organised. I was placed into a team and immediately utilised by the team for a couple of on-going projects. However as time went on it became clear it had not been as well designed as it first seemed. The team I started in I was part of for 2 weeks, and that worked well as there were projects available for me to work on and contribute to. As the 2 weeks were coming to a close it was decided it would be useful for me to get some wider experience of other teams within my service line - which I agreed with and was keen to experience some of the other teams' work. However from there it appeared that some of teams had not been briefed on what my role as an intern was, how long I was with them for or what to expect from me. They sometimes struggled to find work for me to do and at other times gave me a lot with little guidance or without the permissions required on the relevant systems which made it difficult for me to contribute. Additionally, I felt 1 week - which ended up being effectively 3 days as a day at the beginning to be introduced and get used to the role, particularly when many of the more senior staff were not in the office to brief me in person, and a day at the end of the project to tie up loose ends and leave instructions for the next intern - wasn't as useful as a role for 2 weeks on one project where I could get properly involved and contribute more as I had time to work on bigger tasks. It may have been better if everyone involved had been briefed on who I was, what they should expect from me, how long I was with them for, and had pre-prepared some work (or at least had an idea of the type of work) for me to do to allow a smoother transition between projects.
The firm invested a reasonable amount. My performance manager was excellent and I felt he invested a lot of time personally into helping me develop over the duration of the internship through our 1-to-1 sessions. The firm also had invested time creating a document for us to complete which helped guide the internship
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
National Travel
Company Parties/Events
I have since been offered a graduate role with the organisation and will consider it very seriously. It is a great place to work, with fantastic people and fascinating projects. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and would be very happy to return.
The Culture
Despite the large contingent of interns there seemed to be only a small group of us interested in socialising. We met fairly regularly for drinks after work and everyone got on well, however it was disappointing that there weren't more people keen to socialise. There was one social organised by the firm for all interns which was well attended and good fun - however it was done near the end of our internship. It may have been better if it had been done towards the beginning so we could build upon the initial connections made and continued to socialise with a wider group of people.
London is extremely expensive to live in, and Canary Wharf is expensive for after-work drinks. Many of the interns lived in halls (as they were at one of the London universities or at home to reduce costs.
The nightlife in London is fantastic and hugely varied, however as it goes on until very late, you either have to leave early to ensure you're up for work the next morning, or only out on Friday/Saturday nights.
There weren't many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work as an intern. We had a CSR day where we worked with a charity for the full day on a project they wanted help with, and that was a very interesting day that was certainly different to our normal routines. However aside from that - while we were made aware of opportunities should we return as graduates - there was not much to get involved in as an intern.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Management Consulting
London
August 2017