HSES Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed the work I was doing on my internship, I was on the HSES summer internship, so was able to get a broad range of experiences across many areas of the company. The work balance was also good as I was never too busy or bored with the work and had plenty of time to complete all of my objectives and receive feedback from my colleagues.

I was really grateful for the team I was placed in as they made me feel very welcome and part of the team as soon as I joined. Events were sometimes organised as part of the team so allow the interns to get to know everyone better and there was a wide variety of ages and experience on the team which was great.

My manager was one of the main reasons my internship was so enjoyable and successful for me. She was very clear with my tasks I would be doing right from the start and encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone. She was very supportive at every stage and took time out of her busy schedule whenever I needed any help or guidance.

It was a pretty good balance for how busy I was. Often at the start you are not too busy as there is a lot of inductions to do to begin with but once you get stuck into work you can find yourself fairly busy on most days. It is up to you how you manage your time, so the more you want to get out of your internship, the busier you will probably be.

I was given responsibility for my own projects during the placement and I was very much given the reigns on some of them to take the direction I believed was best. However, I wasn't given responsibility on any bigger projects which would have been exciting but I think it depends what is available at the time of your internship.

I think much of the training that I did at the internship was quite job-specific to Centrica, so don't feel like this will be helpful unless I return. However from a personal development side I definitely learnt a lot about myself, particularly how to self-manage, manage upwarda and communicate effectively in the workplace with colleagues and peers.

It was fairly quiet but fun and lively at times.

The work placement was very well organised. I was given clear tasks to do right from the start and this made me feel more settled straight away. The team helped me along with some of my tasks as well and the grad team often organised events amongst the other interns to help us get to know eachother which was a goop opportunity.

I felt like I was being well invested in throughout.

The company will decide whether to offer the interns graduate scheme at the end of the placement.

There was a very good social scene amonst the interns. There was about 40 of us based in the south all living in the same accommodation so we lived together, worked together and often travelled to work together as well. We were able to go on nights out as a group and it was great to have so many of us staying in the same place for the 10 weeks.

The accommodation was provided so this was a cost that we did not have to worry about which was very helpful. Travel into work would have been expensive had I often not been able to car share with other interns, as the bus was expensive and the train journey long. Windsor being near London was a very expensive place to work in.

We were based in quite a quiet town for our living arrangements so there was no nightlife there except a few local pubs. There were clubs in Windsor and bars in the surrounding areas etc which were easy enough to get to and well within reach of the campus. The campus itself was quiet as it was obviously not term time during our placement.

Yes, there was the summer intern charity challenge which allowed us to do fundraising and volunteering.