Consumer Services Intern Review

I enjoyed my internship as I became part of a very friendly team, who were very welcoming and made me feel very comfortable. I became involved in department activities and always made sure that there was a laugh and a giggle involved! However, I only enjoyed one out of my three projects, the other two I found frustrating as sufficient information was not provided. I should have been provided with training relevant to the department and unfortunately I wasn't, which made my third project very difficult to complete.

I felt valued by advisor members of staff as I was always willing to help them with large work-loads, however I did not always feel valued by team leaders and managers in the team and reguarly felt like I was a Year 10 student on work experience that "got in the way". Team Leaders and Managers are very busy people, but they need to make time for an Intern if they agree to take one on, this time management specifically to monitor my progress was never made.

I was given very little support and guidance by management/supervisor, especially in comparison to Interns in other departments. They were to busy and sometimes uninterested in questions, queries and tasks I had to ask. Instead I got support and guidance from other members of staff that were not responsible for me but they were the only ones willing to sacrfice time to help. In the future I feel that they need to partner an Intern up with a "buddy", someone that they can ask anything to from payroll to project questions, this needs to be somoene that works full time and doesnt have a large amount of responsbility within the department.

Some weeks, I was incredibly busy I had a huge project to take on! But when I was waiting for feedback (which took far too long) I found myself having to ask for tasks to do for most of the day, to the point where I had to do shredding (this shouldn't be expected for a company like Nestle offering a Summer Internship). This problem could of been fixed if relevant training for the department had been provided and I had been given some level of responsibility, I could have assisted in dealing with contacts - which is the role of the department. As I am the first Intern in this department I understand that it is difficult to estimate the workloads.

I was given very little responsbility in during the placement, and for a 20 year old student at one of the top UK universities I found this quite upsetting and frustrating. I was reguarly told I was not able to take on certain tasks yet new/temp staff were able to do, some of which were several years my junior. I only experienced responsibility during my main project as I know that this would go live a couple of weeks after I leave. I felt that I could of challegened myself more and had to problem solve, given more responsibility. The fact I had non was very demotivating!

I didn't recieve any training within the department but the general skills of working for FMCG company has allowed me to realise where I would want to continue my career in the working world. I feel that it has slightly enhanced my ideas of the supply chain within the retail sector, which shall definitely help my learning going into my final year.

The general atmosphere in my team was fabulous, seveal members of staff were great and they always helped me with any issues I had. They took an interest in my personal, social and academic life and were really welcoming, friendly and helpful! There were always activities and celebrations on staff birthdays and leaving days, which I really enjoyed! I think it is a really nice place to work and there is always laughter in my department!

The internship was not set up well, particuarly by HR. As I was Consumer Services Intern, a role that was completely new to the company, I struggled to fit in. The first couple of days I was almost "forgotton" about and unless I had spoken to my line manager. If I had not of taken it upon myself I would never have got the opportunity to mix with other Interns from other departments, I would have liked to have interacted more to be able to build friendships. Apart from that the overall internship was set up well, the expectations, dress code, pay etc were all explained clearly and everything happened when it should have!

In terms of personal training and development, I found that the company did invest well in Intern's and provides an invaluable experience of working within an FMCG manufacturer. It is an extremely exciting experience and it was something that I am very proud of been part of. Nestle provided an amazing day training course, specific to how to present with impact made me feel valued as an employee, particularly as this took place at their head office in Gatwic.

I feel the future employment prosepects for me within this organisation are appealing but it would be within another department, which requires degree level entry. The company as a whole is a fantastic place to work and I would recommend it to any graduate! The opportunities to progress are brilliant and there are so many brands that offer various challenges!

Yes definitely! There was a great social scene amongst the other students, we all got along really well and our night out after our training session in Gatwick was particuarly memorable! York is a great place to live as there is always events happening such as the races and the night life is good!

The area that I worked in is also where my family live, so for me there was no extra cost of living in York. However it is expensive, the cost of rent is not cheap and I know that other students struggled to find short term cheap contracts for the 10 week period and this is something that Nestle could have helped with more. However York is somewhere where you get value for money, its expensive but the quality is high, but there are plenty of ways to get cheaper deals e.g. a Revolution student card!

The nightlife in York is great, especially on Saturday night, there are many bars/clubs around the riverside with more affluent cocktail bars over by the Minster area. The city centre gets very very busy on a Saturday creating an exciting and buzzing atmosphere! It defintely is not as "studenty" as somewhere like Manchester (where I go to Uni) and you can't always get away with trainers etc its definitely more of a dress up place, and you definitely can't get in anywhere for £1! The nightlife would be cheaper if the students were still at University!

Not really, especially not within my department, I would have liked a Netball club perhaps tp be involved in! However, I know some of the boys that worked within marketing became involved in a 5 a side team.