Business Strategy & Insight IP (Consumer Insight) Review

1. I think this was a great place to work, lovely lovely people and a great experience that will help in the future. Most of the time there was enough work to do and if you struggle team members were always there to help. There were also 22 other interns in the same boat which helped with the settling in process.

I was lucky enough to work with a great team. I think at times there are moments when you can feel a little out of place or the quiet one, for example in meetings with higher and more experienced employees but I think it was important to give your view and others appreciated this.

3. My manager was a very easy-going friendly person so that always made it easy to approach if I had any problems or needed some help. We did schedule in weekly catch-ups, although these didn't always happen due to work load or meetings colliding. I would strongly quote guidance and support where provided throughout the placement.

I think I would rate this as pretty balanced. This was highly dependent on the week. Some weeks were very busy and the days fly, whereas others were very slow. But when I had limited work I would always ask for more and the team were appreciative for an extra helping hand.

5. At the start I was given my set routine tasks which could become quite repetitive, although this was explained as the "settling in process". Towards the end of my placement I was given much more opportunities to be involved with more projects and I even got to manage one (which gave me a lot of responsibility.)

6. At the start of the placement we were given lots of training inductions into the history of the company, IT skills and presentation skills. Throughout the year you could also sign yourself up to any course you would like to complete (with permission of your manager). I think the most useful skills will be hugely helpful and transferable in both my future career and in university studies. You learn lots about meeting deadlines, communication skills and prioritising. It is definitely a worthwhile experience.

McDonald's is a corporate place to work along with a corporate culture, but this wasn’t an uncomfortable atmosphere to work in. Everyone is friendly and there was always some good office banter.

The set-up was spot on. The first week you are given an HR induction along with a intro handbook this has a lot of useful info from office attire to working hours. I was lucky enough to have 4 weeks hand over period with the former placement student which helped hugely and I was also given a hand over document which helped after training too. From start to finish this was amazingly organised.

The training part was hugely independent - weekly/monthly on our office updates we were provided with a list of the next training courses that were available. If this was something you were interested, you could sign up. In terms of development, I feel I was given more opportunities throughout the year to be involved in more. Although I was meant to receive a mid-year and end-of year review which didn’t happen.

I would love to come back and work full-time however the company doesn't offer any sort of graduate schemes. Past interns have returned when a job as arisen but at the moment there aren't any junior roles available in my team which is a real shame.

There were lots of interns to socialise with, whom many lived together. So there was lots of opportunities to meet up and go out.

I didn't live out in the area but cost of socialising wasn't very cheap. As the best places to go out near-by are either Camden/Shoreditch or Central London all which are quite expensive. You do get student nights, although these aren't as cheap compared to university life.

East Finchley unfortunately doesn't have much around, there are some lovely pubs and beer gardens. But the best bet is jumping on the train to Camden (around 15 mins away) or Shoreditch (20 mins away).

Not much to be honest, there were intern nights out and a few company parties but not that much.