News
Preeta Ghoshal
26.07.2018
The London Summer Interns Experience.
The FDM intern programme provides a structured, dynamic and exciting experience in the world of work. During the eight weeks that interns are at FDM, they have the opportunity to complete a range of tasks and a group project which they present to the managing partners at the end of the internship. This group project offers the interns the chance to see areas outside their role, create a product which will directly benefit FDM and engage with all the interns from our UK offices in London, Leeds and Glasgow. We caught up with some of the London summer interns to learn about their experience so far and their advice for future interns.
Assessment days
For many people, assessment days can be an overwhelming experience when it comes to being surrounded by a totally new environment and new people. Here are some top tips from the interns in our London office about how to keep cool on the day.
- Submerse yourself in the company’s website. This means you will be comfortable in your interview talking about their facts and values. You will also be able to link yourself back to the company’s values nicely and show how your skill set is valuable to FDM.
- Be yourself. The assessment day is a whole day so you will have time to relax and let your personality shine through.
- Avoid generic answers. Give lots of examples about your personal experiences and interests. It will allow the interviewer to learn more about you on a personal level and see how your skill set is best suited to the role.
- Smile and be enthusiastic. Everyone tries to be the perfect candidate, but all assessors are looking for is someone who is eager to learn and can fit in with FDM’s culture.
The internship
Once you have secured that all-important internship, you want to ensure you make the most out of it. The internship is designed to be a learning experience. Therefore, don’t be afraid to ask questions about what you are doing. Chat with people in other departments and learn about their roles. This will enable you to learn more about how FDM operates and understand how several departments work together in order to achieve a shared goal. FDM also provides a mentoring scheme at the beginning of the internship, which ensures the interns are instantly integrated into the company which gives them a point of call if they have any queries and makes sure they are making the most out of their time at FDM.
The skills gained from the intern programme are so valuable. The interns are constantly learning how to conduct themselves in the workplace by writing emails and taking minutes to presenting in front of large groups of individuals. Some of them are learning, through the academy, how to use software programmes like Python, PowerBI and SQL – something they would never have the opportunity to do that at university. This also offers them an insight into how the academy is run for the trainees. Many of the sales interns had the opportunity to speak to clients and met on site consultants at the Home Office, Sky and British Airways, improving their business proficiency. With just eight weeks at FDM, they have all learned quickly how to become better time managers, research thoroughly, how to prioritise tasks and work ‘smart’. All these skills are transferable and they are looking forward to applying them to their final year of study and in the future.
Applications will open for our eight-week summer internships in November.
Featured image credit: Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash
