Analyst Review

I very much enjoyed my internship. My work was challenging, but I was able to leave at 5pm every day and not stress about work when I came home. The interns are valued and seen as a part of American Express from day 1, which gave me confidence to complete my project. Outside working hours there was a lot of activities among interns, and I very much enjoyed staying in Brighton for the summer.

I was surprised how equal my project team colleagues treated me, and valued me as a part of the team. My ideas were listened and implemented, and my outside perspective was appreciated. My colleagues even accidentally invited me to meetings after my internship is over, that well integrated I am to American Express. At American Express Intern is a highly valued position.

My team manager has been very supportive: we hold catch up meetings with her twice every week, and she is happy to help me with everything I need. She also gives me a lot of feedback, which is motivating. However, I think that the internship program management could have been better, and I have not received support to my general inquiries. The internship is not coordinated well enough.

The amount of work varies from day to day. I believe the biggest factor determining the workload was people's holidays. Some days are very relaxed, whereas other days are very busy. Overall I think my workload has been okay, and I have not felt bored or stressed. I think American Express is very good in promoting work life balance.

Since I have been working in higher positions before, I have a slightly different view on the amount of responsibility than a stereotypical intern would, and I also seek for more responsibility. My project was challenging, however, it was not critical, and therefore I don't think the responsibility level was too high. Then again, I guess an intern should not be responsible for critical projects.

Since my degree does not specifically focus on Operations I cannot utilize the skills I have learned working on this particular project. My major is Accounting, and my project is not numerical at all. However, I have gained a lot of business understanding and networking skills which will surely help me in my future career. I have also become a lot more customer oriented during my internship.

The internship was very well organized beforehand. However, when we started there were some things that were not executed well enough. For example the company did not support with issues international interns had, like applying for a national insurance number or filling a P46 form correctly. Work-wise, my project was very well planned and I have received a lot of support!

American Express wanted to really show the interns how much they are appreciated and valued by investing heavily in us. We have been trained in presentation skills and excel skills, and whatever specific knowledge you may want to acquire, it has been arrange. The company encourages interns to learn, and I have really taken advantage of that.

The company has limitless opportunities. However, on day 1 we were introduced to band levels, and how you have to be on each band level for a certain amount of time before applying for a higher job. It is also not possible to skip band levels. Therefore, even though the company offers a lot of career development opportunities, also globally, American Express is very stiff and does not offer quick & flexible enough advancement.

I am very happy to have been placed in Brighton, since the cost of living is very low. The only thing I think costs quite a lot is rent, however, I am able to live 1 mile from the office and walk to work every day. I think we also do more activities together after work because Brighton is so cheap: two people can eat in a really good restaurant and have a bottle of wine, all under £35!

I did not experience the nightlife too much, however, the times I did it was really good. The city has a lot of pubs and bars with very cheap drinks. There are a lot of cool night clubs on the sea front, which are open until 6am. In addition, because Brighton is so small, the pubs were always filled by American Express employees and there were always people I knew!

Yes - the company really promoted different networks (there were many), though I do not think anybody joined them. There was also a lot of sporting activities, for example an American Express football team. All graduates went to a pub quiz every Thursday, and on Fridays we always went for after work drinks. We also arranged different activities during weekend days.