Intern Review

It was a good experience to learn about how a large and successful company works. Plus there are many opportunities to arrange meetings with people in a range of departments to get a good understanding of what different teams' work is like - access you can't get if you're not working there. Social events were organised by my department every month which were a good way to hang out with the analysts and see if a grad role was for me.

Colleagues in my team appreciated my project and what I was doing, but other stakeholders didn't have buy in before or in the early stages of the project, so it was unclear if my project would actually be useful to anyone.

I had around 2 hours every week to talk to a buddy and line manager about my progress. However interns were expected to provide the agenda to these meetings rather than the company or buddy/manager having a framework. We also had team meetings in which I could ask them for advice on my project and what factors I should consider in my analysis.

I usually had enough work to keep me busy from 9-5. On occasion I had too work more (9-6) to meet deadlines due to miscommunication of project road map between levels of management.

I had complete ownership of one project. The project was decided by my line manager. I had few team mates so was doing most of it myself - a good thing if you like independent work, otherwise not so good if you like team work.

I received very little training on the knowledge and skills I needed for my internship, so had to learn most of it at home or search for knowledge among colleagues. However the skills I developed from this self-teaching and applying it to real world business will be very useful since it is a very high demand skill set. It was little relevance to my degree.

The culture in my office was very relaxed and I believe this is true of other offices in Tesco - smart casual. However the office could be a bit impersonal and quiet with many people just working on their individual projects.

Organisation by my team was much less structured, there was one day of domain specific presentations, then you are dropped into the team and treated like any other - which may be an advantage or disadvantage for some. Organisation by the HR team was smaller but generally well organised with 2 days of induction, 3 training sessions and a visit to the call centre.

There was very minimal training except for a training document on one of the software we use, which was given to us in week 1. Development was very intern led; I had to reach out to get feedback and focus on my professional development.

Tesco is generally perceived as a good place to work and a place young people can start their careers before moving on to different more prestigious companies. Grads can either join on the grad scheme or on a higher work level as an analyst, with promotions seeming to be available every 2 years if there is a vacancy. Personally, the lack of strong focus on training and professional development (in my opinion) would be the biggest negative.

There was good socialising between interns across the company, and between analysts in my team. In my team there were social events every month and interns got to know each other through the intern charity challenge.

Tesco is based in Welwyn Garden City. My impression was that things were less expensive than London but not notably cheap.

I never attempted the nightlife in Welwyn Garden City, but my impression is that it is lacking.

The work hours are reasonable enough to have plenty of time for hobbies, though Welwyn Garden City probably won't have as large a range as London. I found the company gym very convenient for exercise.