Procuremen Intern Review

I had a great summer, joining the 12 week procurement internship at BAE Systems Air, which helped me to acquire the necessary skills for a future position in the field of procurement. The nature of the products I was dealing with on a daily basis is quite unique - I would definitely recommend the experience!

I had a lovely team and everyone was quite approachable and always supportive. My colleagues gave me the opportunity to get involved with ongoing issues in the department, attend meetings as well as supplier visits. One week before starting the internship, my line manager dropped me a welcome email and checked whether I had any questions before joining the team. That was a lovely gesture that made me looking forward to starting the internship1

My line managers were always happy to answer any questions and software trainings helped to familiarise myself with the IT. The induction days enabled the interns to get to know each other, learn about BAE, find out about important points of contact and network with the people on the graduate scheme. All interns get allocated a buddy before the start of the internship who is happy to help out with any questions that might come up.

It took a while to set up the required software and IT accounts. However, once the IT was sorted I could work increasingly independently and was quite busy with varying and interesting tasks. My line managers regularly checked with me whether my workload was fine and whether there was anything I wanted to get involved with.

Even though I was only on a 12-week placement, I was trained as if I would stay for a year or longer. Complexity of the tasks and workload increased during the internship so that I could work more independently. Due to the nature of the work in procurement, my work was less project-based but rather consisted of varying routine tasks.

As I am a German exchange student, it was a fantastic learning experience for me to complete an internship in a British company. I feel like I could really develop my language skills during the internship. Additionally, the experience I could get in the field of supplier management will be extremely valuable for a future position in the field.

Everyone was quite laid-back and hierarchies in my office were rather flat. Our team was split across two company sites so that I had the opportunity to work at both sites. Regular team meetings enabled our team to catch up with each other, discuss current issues and distribute tasks within the team.

The internship was very well organised from start to finish with induction days and end of internship conference. I had regular performance reviews with my line managers, during which we discussed how I was progressing with my internship objectives, where I could improve and whether there was anything I wanted to get involved with.

I attended several software trainings that were helpful for my daily work. Additionally, we had a few online training sessions and introductory talks during the induction that were quite useful to learn about the company. I could also attend a supplier visit, which was fantastic opportunity to personally get to know the people I was dealing with on a daily basis.

Every intern got to know his internship buddy during the buddy lunch. An intern night out was organised by the current people on the grad scheme. Additionally, many of the interns lived in the same student accommodation, so that there were lots of opportunities to make new friends during the placement!