Client Executive Intern Review

The placement year at Verizon is good because it is less structured than a lot of other placements. This gave me the opportunity to voice what I wanted to do and my manager would try to give me more projects using my better skills. Of course there were some projects still that I had to do but there is a good support system if you need help. In sales you tend to touch a lot of areas of business other than your own so it was nice being able to work with different departments within the company. I have enjoyed my year at Verizon and feel like I can take away very valuable & transferrable skills with me.

I felt like my work was valued by my team & there was always someone I could go to speak to if I needed help with projects. Most people in the business are very friendly and were very helpful, especially at the start when I needed help the most at understanding how the business works.

I definitely had great support from my manager, although I know other interns didn't always have it the same as me. I had a weekly 121 with my direct manager where I could go to him and ask for help and just to see where I am with all my work or if I had anything else that was on my mind. My manager would also make sure that I was doing things relevant to my course and my personal objectives for the year to make sure I was getting the most from my experience. The rest of the week I could just pick up the phone and call my manager whenever I had a problem.

Some days were busier than others, the busiest period for me was when there was a reorganisation of my sales team. I took on more responsibility as I was working on more than one account. However, there were some days where I wasn't that busy but there is a lot which you can do to be proactive in order to keep yourself busy and add value to the team.

I was given a lot of responsibility in the business which has helped me become more independent. I managed the sales forecast which had visibility from senior management as well as this I also took ownership over liaising with customers and dealing with all their requests

The effect on my ability to work independently in an massive corporation will put me in a great position when applying for grad jobs. The business acumen I've gained should help me in my final year at university where I study Business & Management. Countless skills on top of this that I don't think this text box has enough space for. I feel this placement has allowed me to put my degree in practice such as involvement in the account planning sessions which used SWOT and PESTEL analysis as well as other theories which I had been taught during my studies at University. Verizon also has a learning platform with various courses you can take to not only develop knowledge on Verizon services and products but also develop key skills such as Microsoft Office. This has helped me use it more efficiently than I did before. There are also classroom based courses you can take on presentation skills and other useful workshops.

Being part of a sales organisation meant that a lot of people worked mobile. This meant that some days at the office could be very busy, but a lot of days, especially on a Friday it would be quite empty. This however meant though that managers were more likely to let interns work from home so it wasn't all bad.

I feel like the internship as a whole is quite unstructured but this isn't a bad thing as it meant you could work on many different types of projects and work with different departments. I do wish there were more intern events as we have quite a small intern community and not a lot of events planned where we can work together

Loads of training available on the Verizon intranet from excel master-classes to sales 101s. Loads of opportunities to go to desk based training as well at least one every 2 months. This was for the entire sales organisation too, not just the interns so it was good real world training. I was lucky that my manager suggested courses which I might benefit from. In the beginning, I also had a colleague training me on the systems I needed.

If and when Verizon offer a graduate programme, I think it is something I would definitely consider.

I had made friends with some of the interns and we planned going out for drinks or dinner once in a while. We also had a intern planned dinner at the start and beginning of my internship which was funded by the company!

I lived with my university flatmates in the University of Reading area where prices are reasonable as a student

Reading in general is quite small, there are very few clubs that are okay. Being quite close to London is a good perk though.

Not many activities out of work planned by work but with the University close by there are always activities to engage in