Summer Intern Review

Overall, it’s definitely a memorable experience. There were flaws of course but the people, especially other interns and trainees, really make it an enjoyable one. I feel there’s an element of luck needed with getting your project and manager which is a downside but regardless I think generally you’ll walk away learning a lot about the type of worker you are.

As an intern, you definitely get special treatment to settle you in, which I greatly appreciated. You have meetings with your head of department at least twice and the open office style encourages you to interact with more people. It takes a little while to get used to that and if you’re introverted, it may be harder for you to introduce yourself to people, which is where your manager should try and help you out, but the interns were like a little family and that’s what really helps.

This depends on luck because some interns get great managers and others, less so. Which I think is a shame due to the lack of an equal playing field in all honesty. The HR rep we have is really good at listening to your queries and troubles so that will help, but ultimately there’s no consistent consensus on this question. My manager was reasonably good at this, whilst others were great and some were much worse.

One thing Kraft Heinz loves going on about is how busy everyone is which is mostly true. Your ten week project is a real project and requires hard work to get it done, sometimes too much for a ten week project, but on the whole I feel it was judged correctly. Essentially, Kraft Heinz likes to run “lean” which is a nice way of saying they minimise costs by getting as few staff to do as much work. I think this does lead to a toxic culture where everyone feels like they have to stay in the office to prove how hard they’re working rather than through the results they push which was probably the least enjoyable part of my work.

You definitely get given a great level of responsibility. Every intern will get a real life project looking at a real life problem in the company to solve. As such, full time colleagues will take an interest and help you out because it’s not just a project that will get put to one side after you leave. The only thing I’d say is that sometimes managers hide behind “taking ownership” to give you vague instructions and no substantial help when you need it. I often found that I didn’t need help with the actual project but would’ve appreciated being directed to people in the company who I wouldn’t have known about that may have had useful tips, ideas or other perspectives for example.

Being someone who had literally no knowledge of FMCGs before this internship, I can definitely say you learn a lot about this industry and will leave somewhat an expert, especially in the specific field your project is on. It’s a steep learning curve for sure but a good one. Also, you’ll realise Kraft Heinz has a particular culture. Some will like it, others will not and some may question it like myself, but regardless, it will teach you what kind of worker you are and what culture may suit you best which is of course, very useful.

Generally, it was a good atmosphere. The people, regardless of seniority, are pleasant, always willing to help and treat you with a lot of respect even though you're 'just' an intern which I always appreciated. The culture between the interns was also great, everyone got on really well and got close over the ten weeks. Only thing that's a general drawback in the office is the hours culture which I think is a bit toxic. When we started, we were told that hours don't matter it's what you produce but about half way in, we all realise that is almost definitely not true. You see a lot of people kill time or work slower just so they don't look like they're leaving earlier and you feel like you get judged for doing so. I worked at home in the evenings almost every day for seven out of the ten weeks but felt that that work was never appreciated just because it didn't occur in the office - so for sure, I really didn't enjoy that part of the culture and the politics that came with it.

The first week is very structured, which in general was a good thing. Like anything, there's hits and misses - I remember a presentation workshop that in hindsight provided me with even less usefulness than I imagined it would whilst lasting three hours but having a two hour Excel workshop which was very useful but wasn't long enough compared to the amount of data handling nearly all the interns did on our projects. (Excel is a big part of your internship) After that, due to the individual projects, there couldn't be as much of a structure which was understandable but it would've been nice to have a couple of things a week away from the project to do together as interns.

A lot of this was top heavy, as you feel at the start, so many people from all over the company take time out of their day to present to you about their role and to help you understand the business more. And they do it with no angst or reluctance which I really appreciated. As mentioned, the multiple meetings with senior managers was also appreciated and even briefly getting to meet them or the head of the Northern Europe business themselves were definitely incredibly valuable. However, besides this, I personally didn't feel any investment as such - I definitely learned a lot and felt I developed in many areas but that was more because of time on the job rather than any specific investment as such.

To be fair, this isn't the fairest of questions. Kraft Heinz has a unique culture, which you'll either buy into like some interns did or question and not be convinced by it like others. One thing they make clear is that you can be perfectly capable and high performing but may just not be a fit for the company, which I can understand because of its Marmite style culture. As such, personally I do not see it likely that I will be keen on any prospects but if you do enjoy your time there, your opinion may be the complete opposite.

For sure, we'd go out to drinks at least once a week, even when it'd get a bit busier in the later weeks. We'd also have lunch together most of the time which helped build the closeness between the interns even if we were working in different areas of the business. Overall, it was definitely excellent in this area.

It's London. It will never be cheap. So there'll be tons of stuff to do and you'll have to spend a lot to do that stuff. Of course you have to be smart in managing your money but it's worth spending some extra money to socialise and build relationships and even live a bit closer to have a shorter commute as that can make you more flexible with hours and all that.

Again, it's London. There'll be plenty of stuff to do whatever your taste may be but it will be expensive.

Not really to be honest. There were a couple of things that were great, like volunteering at a nearby Soup Kitchen but that wasn't available to everyone and outside of that, I can only recall a couple of events which aren't exactly promoted in the office a whole lot anyway.