Technology and Innovation Intern Review

My job is very engadgeing and allows me to explore multiple avenues within my workflows. My role fits well with my degree and jobs are taiored to the skills I have and want to develop. There is a great Graduate and intern community within Virgin Media and Liberty Global (parent company) with monthly schedulled events outside of work and an annual graduate and intern event called 'The Grad Thing' which was held in Twickenham stadium this year.

I am an equal to the colleuges in my team. I will always be given the opportunity to share my views and to take on work streams at the same level as my colleuges. The senior leadership teams value the benefit that interns bring and I have had the opportunity to have meetings in small groups and 1-2-1 with many of them.

I have two weekly 1-2-1 meetings, one with my current line manager and the other with my old line manager. I also have a monthly catch up with my work Mentor, this gives me the ability to talk to an impartial indivitdual outside of my direct department. I also have a good relationship with my director, this has given me the opportunity to have multiple development meetings with a senior manager.

Some days are bussier than others. One day I could have a lot of free time and the next could be completely booked up with meetings. On the whole I have had enough work to keep me busy, however I have had to push and be proactive to ensure I was given some projects.

The projects that I have been working on have no impact on the direct day to day function of the business, however they are very important to ensure that the business remains functional in the future whether that be lowering overheads or improving performance. Therefore, I have been given a lot of responcibility in terms of ensureing that these projects will be successful when implemented and benefits are felt.

The VM internship comes with a plethora of training sessions throughout the year and multiple online training platforms that any employee can access. These ranged from sessions on how to present, network, manage time and much more. Many of the soft skills I have developed whilst being an Intern at VM will be invaluable when I return to university in Septemeber.

We have recently just moved into the new Virgin Media headquarters in Reading. The building has been completely rennovated making a really nice space to work in. All desks spcaes are now 'hot desking' which encourages you to work in different areas in the building, this is a great way to build your network. When in the HQ you can feel what it is like to work for a Virgin company.

The internship is split into multiple schemes ranging from Technology and Innovation to Fincance. Each scheme has their own set up for the plaement so there is slight deviation between each. Overall there is good structure on the schemes in terms of work, development and generally ensuring we have a good time.

I believe I have covered this already. There has been a range of training both face to face and on line all of which has been a benefit.

The Graduate scheme for Virgin Media looks equally as good as the internship if not better. Comprising of four 6 month roatations in departments of your choice. I will be having conversations regarding to progression to the grad scheme in the coming weeks. The business is in a great position to work through the Covid-19 pandemic and I believe the Grad shcemes won't be affected by this.

The social sceme has been great in two ways. Firstly, I was able to live with 3 other VM Interns due to the careers team creating an Intern Facebook group beforehand. I've become great friends with a number of the Intern community and we've had a fantastic opportunity to work together and explore Reading and London outside of work. Secondly the Gradute Commitee (GC) has been great in setting up monthly social events such as attending the Comedy Club in Soho. This includes the graduates as well as the interns.

Coming from livning and attending University in the North and them moving down to Reading, I have seen the cost of living increase. For example night's out can be unbelievably expensive and food shops cost more. However I am paying less rent in Reading than in Manchester and I do believe the Intern salery covers the cost of living on the whole.

Reading does have a nightlife, there are a few clubs and bars so there are options, however it is nowhere as varied as the nightlife in Manchester. Our local pub (The Hope and Bear) has become a great retreat after work and they host a pub quiz every Tuesday. Due to the great travel links into London from Reading it is possible to have a night out in London, as we did on NYE, just expect expensive drinks. Obviously theres a lot going on in London and we've managed to go to multiple concerts, comedy shows and other events whilst on internship.

I believe I have answered this in other questions. There have many activites outside of work from connections with interns and the GC. There is also an annual Cricket event at the Oval in which around 200 Virgin Media employees attend, however it may be cancelled this year due to current curcumstances.