Finance Intern Review
by Shell
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
2.0
-
The Company
1.1
-
The Culture
1.6
- 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
My role was basically data entry and spreadsheet work. Very little interaction was required with anyone else. Had to actively seek opportunities to find out business context and speak to people regarding the company and context of the work.
Shell has a culture of following processes and ticking boxes. This attitude is throughout the company, in finance, sales and even in HR evaluations. There is very little focus on improvement unless it is being done through a project team set up for the specific area (of which there are lots in Shell)
Shell has a very disjointed structure. The team spent a lot of time arguing with other teams who should or usually should not be doing a role or task.
I always had work to do but it was the same repetitive work most days. I offered to help someone else in the office on a task that I had experience of from another placement which was a welcome change.
Was able to work on a project independently although there were very few decisions to be made.
No training was given. Just a little background on the work that was to be done.
The Company
Not great, teams are not based in the same location so people are on the phone or instant messenger constantly. Moral was definitely low with so many internal arguments rather than working together for the good of the company.
The recruitment was very slow and unclear. I was told I had the job but then had another interview. 3 other people in the recruitment process therefore were not employed despite being told they were successful. Any queries took over a week to resolve as they had to go through a service desk.
No investment. They were just happy to have me doing the work.
Subsidised Canteen
The internship is marketed as an "assessed internship." In reality however you get less of an assessment than if you applied through the direct graduate recruitment process as I had a short presentation and 20min interview with a statistician who knew nothing about finance roles. My boss admitted that despite exceeding expectations in the job I did, the HR boxes were not ticked because I didn't make any large mistakes.
The Culture
No other interns in my location. It felt like I was employed as a cheaper alternative to an agency temp.
Manchester is a great city, fortunately I had a good group of friends.
Shell does not have a great team culture and in my location I was not aware of any activities.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
North West
October 2011
