Finance Intern Review

It was hard work, with some long hours and a lot of mentally taxing work - but it was absolutely worth it. I now have a year of experience working in an actual job in Finance rather than just a scheme, and the recognizable name of GE on my CV.

Everyone in each department very much had their own function, so I was often asked to help out or train other (full-time) staff on how to complete certain tasks or use programmes. Everyone in the office is very much an equal, and it's very well recognized that everyone has their individual skills and hierarchy won't change that.

I had regular PD (Professional Development) meetings with my line manager to discuss personal/professional goals and how he could help me attain them. We also went through work styles (e.g. do you work better in the morning or afternoon) and how to flex the work day and work schedule to try to meet this preferred work style and be as productive as possible. There was rarely a day when I wouldn't at least touch base with my manager or another superior in the department to go over an ongoing project or get some help on a problem I was working on.

Work was cyclical with the quarters, so the last fortnight of each quarter was very intense, with a couple of nights staying until 11pm/midnight and also having to work the weekend (though we were reimbursed holiday days for this). A few weeks past the quarter my workload dropped to almost nothing and I had to work a lot harder to keep myself busy.

I managed my own workload and had my own set of files and trackers to keep updated which would then be used as part of our quarter end tracking and reporting. Mid-quarter projects were generally of a high importance and would affect the business going forward - such as building a file to track historic trends in the reported financials for the business which would then be used to create the projections for the next financial year.

I learned a great deal of transferable skills, most notably the use of various systems which are used UK-wide in the financial sector and so will be very useful to have knowledge of when applying to graduate positions. I have also learned a great deal which can be carried forward into final year studies such as analytical skills.

Atmosphere was great! The office could be fairly quiet at times, but never dead silent and nobody frowns upon others for gathering for tea and cakes in a department for elevenses or just having a catch up by somebody's desk. The staff who ran the building really helped with this, as they were always joking around with the GE employees helping to lighten the mood when everyone was a little stressed.

the Further Skills Programme would probably be best being centrally managed rather than self contained at each site, as some stuff would be offered at some sites and not others. The actual job role was well structured though, with regular reviews and training and a month-long handover from the previous intern.

Several training courses were available such as Six Sigma (a highly transferrable qualification in data analysis) and GE-centric courses in FastWorks which is very useful to anyone planning to stay in GE post-graduation! There were lots of online resources and free courses to help with continuing professional development through the year.

The GE graduate schemes, especially in finance, are extremely competitive. A placement year definitely gets a foot in the door, but nobody is guaranteed a job. Managers have the discretion to offer (depending on department) a full time job upon graduation, rather than a scheme, and I know of several interns in larger departments who have been offered this.

The social scene was what you made of it. With 20+ interns in my city across 3 offices, there was always something going on so you would never be left bored, but equally you weren't expected to go out every weekend if you didn't want to - which was a good compromise.

Bristol isn't the cheapest, but the salary is sufficient to have a social life, especially when combined with maintenance loan.

bristol has a very lively nightlife, and 24 hour busses and Uber meant you could pretty much always go out and you weren't ever cut off from a good night out!

Most activities took place inside working hours, aside from football on wednesday nights or the occasional office night out