Buyer's Administrator Intern Review

I absolutely loved my placement with ASOS, it was everything I could have hoped for and more. I had this perception that every fashion company was going to be like Devil Wears Prada - it was literally the opposite! Everyone I met was so welcoming and friendly and it was such a positive and inspiring company to be a part of.

During my placement I never really felt like an intern - apart from all the perk of being an intern of course (parties, goodie bags etc!). When my manager would introduce me to a supplier she would never call me an intern. Plus, I was doing a regular BA job, it's not like I was making cups of tea and twiddling my thumbs!

I was given a buddy when I arrived at the company - she was amazing at training me up, but also became a really good friend that I am still in touch with now. As an intern we had loads of training session which were so helpful, particularly for all the different new programmes that we were introduced to. But as everyone was so friendly I felt that I could ask anyone for help.

During my first 5 days I felt a bit more of a hindrance than a help...and then that was it and for the rest of the year I was really busy! I was given a challenging yet manageable workload, but my manager was amazing at making sure I always went home at a reasonable time. There were sometime that were busier than other, when colleagues were on holiday or I had university coursework, but I always felt I could ask for help during these situations.

I was doing the role of a entry level BA. To me being an intern literally just meant I was going back to university in a year, as I was doing a graduate job role. I was given huge responsibility which I loved and allowed em to really show what I could do within the company. And after 5 months I was training up two new BAs, both older than me!

Everything sort of clicked into place while I was working at ASOS. All the documents I had learnt about like the Delivery Schedule and Critical Paths made sense and I could understand how they all fitted together as part of the Buying Cycle. I also greatly developed my Excel skills, and I feel confident in communicating via phone or email with experienced professionals. And finally I am so much more motivated with my studies during my final year! After a year of waking up usually before 6am to commute to work I am now a morning person (although not quite so early!). I am so much more organised and better able to manage my time.

Inspiring, happy, creative, fun...I could go on but you probably get the idea! Everywhere I looked I was surrounded by incredible, creative people who love what they do (and were also pretty well dressed!). I would say at ASOS there is definitely a "Work hard, Play hard" ethos. The job is fast paced and every changing, so during the day it really is GO GO GO. You quite literally see people running around the office! But there are Friday drinks, and Christmas and Summer parties, and socials with the Execs. It was the perfect balance!

The placement was very well organised and they had obviously listened to what students wanted and developed the programme around that. We had monthly intern sessions which I thought would be a bit of a waste of time but were so informative and broad. We also had an intern project in the last 3 months which was so much fun but also one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done. And finally, I was so impressed with how involved the Execs were in the intern programme. I had so many one-to-one chats with Nick B (he even bought us a glass of prosecco in the pub once!).

We attended all the same training sessions that a new permanent employee would have attended. And on top of that we had our monthly intern sessions. I also had frequent catchups with my manager to discuss objectives for the years and set clear goals that I wanted to reach.

Well I have a job offer and I am not even thinking about applying anywhere else! Right now there is nowhere else that I could apply to who would offer me a job that I would value in the same league as ASOS! It's a strong statement but I really felt like I fit the company and the company fit me.

The social scene was pretty good. I think the average age of ASOS employees is around 25 - so it's a young company. There were parties and Friday drinks but also intern social events and even just trips to the pub opposite after work.

It's London, so it was never going to be cheap! I was lucky enough to be living at home, but my commute was long and very expensive so I didn't actually save as much money as I thought I would.

Camden is such a cool place to work with so much going on in the day and night. ASOS is just opposite the tube station as well so it is easy to get to anywhere by tube.

There were loads, particularly charity events.