Finance Intern Review

The internship has been good, there are lots of GE interns across the UK so there are a few events throughout the year with all the interns which is fun. I was engrossed in real work from the outset which gives a good indication about what it would be like after graduating, although sometimes the work that my team were working on was too advanced for me to contribute, so I am often left with not much to do.

I feel like my team are grateful for my work and my team sit down with me to go through different projects etc. However I do feel as though the work I do could be done by my team in less time and at a better quality, so I am unsure as to how much I am really contributing.

I have had two managers since starting at GE. My first manager was very distant and didn't involve me in anything and was out of office more often than not, so I would give them 2 star. My second manager has been brilliant and I would give them 10 stars. She always talks me through how to do things and why the work is important, as well as showing me tricks on excel and helping me with gaining access to computer networks etc. At GE the managers can really vary, and the way one manager treats their intern differs in every team.

Some days I am busy and stay until 6-7pm doing work, but other days I have nothing to do. This means I get to fill these gaps with my uni work. I am never taking work home with me and once I leave the office, I don't worry or do any work until I am next in so the work-life balance is good.

I am doing real work and not just photo copying or tea runs, which some others are doing. And the work I do is used in presentations that go to senior management or onto reporting to other teams. I would say that I am happy with the level of responsibility I have.

There is not much training for interns at GE. Any training you receive will be through your team. There are no 'intern classes' or anything like that, which I would have liked, although this may not have worked as we all do such different roles. Skills I have learnt through working such as Excel skills are transferable onto other things, although I would assume you would learn these at any finance placement.

I am in the London office, which is full of a lot of visitors so there isn't so much of a community feel as I know there are in some of the other UK offices. At our office there are a lot of conferences, and many senior people only visit the London office when in the UK so exposure is good. There is not much socially on in the office apart from the usual Christmas parties etc.

Everything has ran smoothly for me so far. I would say that every intern I know at GE has had a different experience, we all interviewed at different points, we all started at different points, we all had different handover periods. So it depends on how your manager organised the placement as to how well it will run. I did have some time with the intern before me who went through some of the role before I officially started.

You can get fastracked onto the graduate scheme, but you still have to sit an interview (although this is less steps that an external applicant). We are fed a lot about the various schemes at GE after the internship, but apart from that, all training is on-the-job and really depends on how much time your team would like to give you. I was lucky that my team have been good with sitting down with me, but some others have not.

The graduate scheme seems very good as there is a lot of opportunity to travel and rotate across different areas within finance. The pay is also very good compared to different companies, and it allows you to move up the ranks at GE very quickly. However, you do not get the chance to sit external accounting exams, and have to sit internal GE ones, which I don't like as it doesn't make you employable if you were to leave the company.

There is no set social agenda. At the London office there are only 6 interns, so we sit together at lunch and socialise, but we arranged this ourselves. The London interns set up a netball team which allowed us to meet others and socialise with them. People are all very nice, but you need to make the effort yourself if you want to set something up as nothing is provided by GE.

I stayed at home, so can't completely comment. Hammersmith is expensive, but the London interns get paid more than others to cover this. Travel and food is more expensive here than in other parts of the country.

As I stayed with my parents, I didn't really get involved completely in the nightlife at work. There is lots of choice, but it is expensive. Most interns went out at the weekends at their university towns. There are not really work nights out, if internsare to go out it would be with flatmates, uni/school friends.

There isn't much at the London site, although I know the other sites have more. The interns set up a netball team which was funded by GE, although we lead that ourselves. There is plenty of sports teams and clubs in the area though just not with GE.