Summer Finance Placement Review

The internship was highly enjoyable in part due to the people and the team I was in. Other interns who were in different teams also noted how friendly and helpful their team members were which is indicative of the collegiate atmosphere Sky has. Moreover, the work we got to do was both intellectually stimulating and relevant as we were told it would have real life impacts in the organisation.

From the very first week of the summer placement I felt highly valued by my colleagues, regardless of seniority. Each member of my team put time in with me to discuss their role and their career so far at Sky. In continuation, the co-ordinators of the placement were helpful whenever we needed guidance or advice. We were also rewarded for the work we completed and invited to many socials which showed we were valued by our colleagues.

My manager put time in with me every Friday which was really helpful to assess how my work was getting on and what I felt I could improve. In conjunction with this I was fortunate to be checked up on by team members who helped me with tasks I felt I could improve on and also offer feedback on any tasks given to me.

We were balancing meetings, group work with our other interns as well as tasks within our individual teams which meant we were busy most of the time. We also had sessions where we were taught about different areas in Sky as well as skills sessions such as a workshop on Excel, this meant I personally wasn't clock watching or too busy and the internship provided a good balance between being busy and being educated.

The work I did with my other interns is actually being considered and built on further by more senior members at Sky which evidences that we were given responsibility. In terms of daily tasks I think responsibility varies dependent on which team you are put in but as far as internships go I was pleased with the level of responsibility provided.

I think the internship provides real life experience in a professional environment and actually teaches you to think in a strategic manner which I have been able to carry over to specific modules such as corporate strategy. In terms of softer skills too I felt the internship helped me be more confident and allowed me to communicate ideas more effectively as well as increase skills such as time management.

Having attended other open days and insights something I felt was different at Sky was the culture. Whilst it remains intellectually challenging, the environment was quite collegiate and you could see there was a lot of scope to make contacts with other areas in the business. Attending the socials you could see everyone gets along well and I think this helps in producing high standards of work.

The colleague co-ordinating our work placement as well as the early careers team worked tirelessly to ensure the internship ran smoothly. Moreover, rooms for insight sessions to other areas of the business were always booked. Personally speaking my manager ensured I was provided with a laptop on my first day and also granted access to the shared drive which shows the internship was well set up.

Whilst I was only there for 6 weeks, I felt many people within the firm were always offering advice or feedback. My manager met with me weekly to go through my progress and offer any tips. Moreover, everyone in my team would check on me and offer help if I was stuck at all. In terms of our group work a graduate who was in none of our teams made time to listen to our project and offer advice which shows that people continually went out of their way to help us improve.

I was fortunate to be offered a full time role once I graduate which shows the value of the internship. I think something many people said was the internship is almost like a 6 week long interview so it's a really good opportunity to hopefully enter your final year of university with a graduate job secured.

I felt I got along with the other interns in my area well as well as doing lunches and socialising with interns in different areas. We were also invited to quite a few socials which shows the social environment at the firm is quite good. Everyone was easy to talk to.

The gym is subsidised and the food in the campus is also subsidised so in terms of the cost of living in the office it is really cheap and good quality. There is also a cinema that is free and puts on films every day to watch after work so there is opportunity to socialise there. Obviously being in London the cost of living is higher than other areas.

The place where our socials were really nice, in terms of nightlife surrounding the actual office I'm unsure how much there is to do. The office is located 5 minutes walk from Syon Lane so it is possible to get to places with a better nightlife quite easily, the Piccadilly line also runs nearby so it quite easy to get to places with good nightlife.

It felt like at least once a week there was an opportunity to do something outside of work from socials to talks given by the CFO. We were fortunate to able to attend the tour de france presentation where the winning Sky team were interviewed and also got to attend a talk from Martin Tyler about his 25 top premier league moments.