Power Market Analyst Review

I enjoyed to a great extent my year internship working in the power business development team in Centrica Energy. I have been exposed to many different areas of the business, from visiting power stations to leading internal events, alongside my normal BAU activities. My team and line manager were absolutely fantastic and were always there to help me if I had any questions, further enhancing my development throughout the role. The BAU activities on some occasions were a little monotonous and repetitive, but understanding their importance combined with my skillset, drove me to continue and complete to the best of my ability.

Throughout the course of my time, I always felt valued by my colleagues and was an important member of the team. The data and information which I submitted to help support the projects were always well received and people always gave me the time to go through the work, explaining its implications and provide feedback on areas to improve one. This made me feel a real part of the project and that I was making a real difference.

In terms of the support and guidance provided by my line manager, I felt this was sufficient to support my development. The nature of the role at hand was typically very individual, desk focused requiring limited guidance, but my manager was always on hand if I had any issues or queries.

Workload and time spent at the office differed considerably throughout my year which required me to be flexible and accommodating. Most of the time, I was working full days from 8:45 to 6:30. Some of my work however wasn't strictly "work" related as I often spent longer than necessary on tasks to ensure I understood the context going forward. All in all though, I feel my work-life balance throughout the course of the placement was great.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement, but going forward, I feel I am in a more comfortable position to be given more. The nature of the role combined with my skillset, often limited the need for excessive responsibility to be provided, but the responsibility I was exposed to was fine

I have developed many real life and transferable job skills and training throughout my time here, which I hope to use in my next role. As a result of the placement and my performance during it, I managed to obtain a place on the three year graduate programme with Centrica working for British Gas. I believe that this year placement played an important role in helping me to obtain this place, and has given me a head start in terms of the culture and strategy of the firm so I can hit the ground running when starting the programme.

The general atmosphere in the office was fun and relaxed but also professional and hard working.

The organisation of the work placement was generally very good and I very rarely found myself wondering what my role in the team was, what I should be doing on a daily basis and how best to develop my skills. For future roles however, I would have liked to have been given a better induction in the team so I could have hit the ground running a bit better. I have subsequently given this feedback to my manager who will be implementing these changes for my replacement.

My personal training and development throughtout was mainly through my BAU daily acitivites, but I also got the opportunity to go on numerous training events, conferences and site visits. My manager was very open, honest and accommodating for investing in these events for myself to attend, and I feel I benefited greatly from them.

Future employment prospects for myself in the organisation are great as I have been successful in achieving a position on the graduate programme in British Gas for three years. For externals and some internals however, uncertainty surrounding the job situation within Centrica suggest future employment prospect are less appealing.

In general, the social scene amongst the grads and interns in Centrica was very good. In the future however, it would be good to see the grads and interns have more of an opportunity to interact with each other as I feel that the interns (i.e myself) are sometimes left out and left unsure on where they stand.

Cost of living was £480 PCM all inclusive in shared accommodation in Dedworth, Windsor, which I feel is quite expensive. Socialising was also generally quite expensive in the area, so we often went away from London for days / nights out. The expensive nature of the area however is understandable due to its close proximity to London.

Nightlife was good in Windsor, less so in Slough.

Yes there were. We organised many charity events, marathons, dinners and seasonal outings. The standard of these were always excellent and a great time was always had by all!