Media Planning Intern Review

The people are the best part of the job. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming and as they employ a good number of interns, there is an immediate group of people who you can socialise and make friends with. The role itself feels like a real job as opposed to a placement, which I found a disadvantage. Although I do recognise this is what some people do want from a work placement.

I do feel somewhat valued from my colleagues as I know that I am solely responsible for my area in the job. Although it does seem that as an intern you do feel excluded and are somewhat out of the loop. Also some tasks which are given to you seem of little value as there is lack of feedback and are only given to you to make up time.

Within the context of your particular role, management and supervisors are always on hand to help with any queries or help you may need. Although when you may want help trying to get experience with other departments, one of the main appeals of the placement , they do not help whatsoever and don't offer support, which would be ideal as talking to other department managers is intimidating for an intern,

For my particular role the amount of work depends on work that others have done so the amount of work you have on a daily basis does depend a lot on others. Therefore on some days you do not have a lot of work to do and are left with little to no work.

In my role I was given a large amount of responsibility as I was in charge of a whole area in our department, there is support from the managers and supervisors which is good for when you are unsure about certain things and the rest of the team will always help. Although management do easily step in to overtake some tasks without explanation which can feel discouraging.

I feel as though the placement itself is good experience as to how a workplace environment operates and will prepare me for future experiences. Also as you are working 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, the prospect of working these hours when I go back to uni do not seem daunting. The role has easily transferable skills to other job roles so is good to have on your CV.

The atmosphere is very friendly and everyone wants to help out each other. Although within the office environment the hierarchy of roles is very evident. and therefore talking to particular colleagues can be daunting and intimidating.

The lead up to taking on the role was well organised; such as the interview and giving you information about when you start, etc. Although when starting the placement the essential parts of a placement experience were ignored. I found that setting up objectives and having a year long goal were important but haven't been followed through by managers. Also when being first introduced to the role I found that my training wasn't very organised and they didn't bother to go over individual tasks properly.

When working here it feels as though we are seen as just interns and essentially just cheaper labour than permanent staff. Therefore it seems as though they are not interested in our personal development or training and do not encourage or help us to try and fins places within the company where we can personally develop. Also when bringing this up to managers, very little is done.

I would consider working for the company again and I have seen that other interns have been taken on as employees after their placements. Although in particular jobs they are seen as purely intern roles and therefore wouldn't be interested in hiring us in the future.

As there are a lot of placement interns in my department it has been very easy to get to know and hang out with other interns. Although there are not any particular events which the company organises to get all of us to know each other and therefore trying to know interns from other departments is a struggle.

I lived at home so I do not have to account for living costs, although the travel costs can be expensive when totalled up. As the placement is based in London socialising costs can be expensive although some events, such as comedy nights, can be free.

It can be hard to find club night-life in the immediate area where the placement is based, bus the station is near by so getting to more central London is not too hard. Although there are many pubs and restaurants nearby the offices so is easy to find somewhere after work to hang out if you want to.

A Summer charity activity was organised but apart from this, there are no outside activities for us to get involved in.