Finance Intern Review

It was a brilliant placement, the involvement right from the start was brilliant, as I was given clear roles and responsibilities from the start. Over the course of the 13 months, once up to speed with the tasks that I had been given at the start, I was also given the chance to expand into other areas of finance, and pursue the areas that interested me.

I felt valued from by my colleagues. Through the placement at no point was I made to feel like an intern, purely responsible for repetitive tasks, I felt more like a full-time member of staff, which is great for your career and also a great taste for what life will be like when you graduate.

My manager was no my day to day contact on placement, I was assigned with a supervisor whilst on placement. She was amazing, I wasn't made to feel micromanaged, but also whenever I needed support she was there to help and coach me through it. Karol was a really great supervisor during my 13 months at Intel.

My workload during the placement would best be described in peaks and troughs. At some points I was really busy, struggling to keep to the deadlines, and others I was just sat there completely bored. It would be great to have a more balanced workload, but this is just part of the industry.

I was given the responsibility I feel of another full-time member of staff. It was great how much I was depended on during placement, as it really gave me the opportunity to thrive. It gave me the chance to be creative in how I approached problems, but I never felt outcast, and people were always available if I needed support.

I think the skills gained on my placement will be really useful for when I graduate, not so much for my final year of university. The skills that will help me for next year are more soft skills like timekeeping and a routine. The skills that will help me going forward into my final year are more the workplace skills such as professionalism and communication, as well as the excel skills which will be vital going forward.

The atmosphere in the office was great, I worked in the Sales and Marketing Finance team, which was a team of around 25 people. Not only did we have weekly team huddles, and spend a lot of time chatting, we also had quarterly team events where we would leave the office and do some team building activities, such as Bowling, Murder mystery tours and Cocktail making.

The placement was really well organized. From after we had our interviews, we were informed of an open day, where they invited all the successful ~45 interns to the site to meet each other before their first day. There was also a 6 week handover period, where the intern you were replacing had time to teach you what you were doing and help you settle in.

The company invested in us as interns in the same volume that they do in their full-time employees. We were still invited to all of the offsite training days, we completed personality testing to see how we acted and also got the same employee evaluation process as the full-time employees.

I think Intel in Swindon is a shrinking site, so the employment opportunities as a graduate are limited, especially within Finance. This is not a bad thing, as the skills gained from this year will help you get in the door at any other company you chose to apply at, its just within finance, its rare for interns to be hired back.

Yes. The social scene whilst on placement was brilliant. Intel had a dedication social society for interns organizing nights out and other social activities, there were also other societies such as charity, volunteering, and publishing, which were all really great to get involved with. It was a great atmosphere amongst the 45 interns on-site in Swindon.

Swindon is a relatively cheap area, so rent is not expensive. I live at home because I was local to Intel during my placement, but rent and cost of living in Swindon are not expensive. It can range from anywhere at the lower end of £250 a month, all the way up to £450 if you want some of the nicer properties.

Swindon's nightlife is ok. It's not a major city and doesn't contain a university so the nightlife options are limited. However, for a Thursday or Saturday night out, Swindon has plenty of options and on a Thursday as well is affordable. If you want a mad party scene Swindon isn't for you, but I would say its enough for a placement year, especially since you are likely to go to home/university at the weekends.

Yes. Intel runs 5 a side football twice a week on the local astroturf, which I found great for my fitness to get involved with. I did not really get involved with anything else outside of work during my placement, but I am aware of them running numerous volunteering activities for employees out of work.