News

Saying goodbye to our UK Summer Interns

John Smith
10.08.18

This week we said goodbye to our amazing Summer Interns who have been with us for the last eight weeks, not only learning about the departments they are in but also working hard on an exciting group project, developing an app for FDM. Our digital marketing intern; Fionna, caught up with the other interns to write a finishing piece on behalf of all their internship stories.

 

Ryan Mortimer - FDMRyan Mortimer, Ex-Forces Intern

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship at FDM and would encourage anyone currently at a university to apply for this opportunity. The variety of work has been great and throughout my time I have learnt a lot more about FDM’s business model and the different opportunities it creates. My role working on marketing within the ex-forces department has given me the opportunity to speak too many of the trainees and learn about their experience. All of the interns were tasked with designing an application that would in time be developed and benefit the employees and company globally.  For us to be trusted with a project of this calibre made the whole internship experience extremely beneficial and rewarding.

 

William Gitu - FDMWilliam Gitu, Business Intelligence Intern

“As a BI intern, I was given the task of making a Python course which was going to be used to teach consultants within the firm for a particular client. I also worked on creating the dashboards on the academy side which will assist managers in understanding and monitoring both individual and collective trainee performances. My role in the group project was to analyse the non-functional requirements of the app as well as researching the financial cost. I also created user stories that outlined the features which would be included in the app. I have found through working with Power BI that I can be quite creative in making data visualisations for dashboards.”

 

 

Millie Wild - FDMMillie Wild, Sales Intern

“Since working at FDM, I have not only improved existing skills but also learnt new ones. I undertook a week of training in Excel and another week of training in SQL. My time in the academy taught me skills that I continued to use whilst working with the sales team. I have also increased my business acumen since working at FDM through direct contact with clients. The responsibilities and tasks I have been given include sourcing leads for my team, creating case studies for consultants going on-site and finding contractors. I also had the opportunity to visit clients and sit in sales meetings with senior stakeholders which allowed me to learn the intricacies of the business.”

 

 

Fionna Strong - FDMFionna Strong, Digital Marketing Intern

“My internship at FDM has been a great experience and I have learned a lot of new things along the way. Being part of an internship programme is a great way to gain new experience outside of University. Although it may mean giving up part of your summer, it really is worth it. Within the marketing team, I wrote a few blogs as well as helping to organise different events for the company. As part of our group intern project, we were given the chance to present to the board of directors and senior management, which was a great opportunity for us all. It was great that members of the board took time out of their busy diaries to allow us to present our project we had been working on for the past eight weeks. All of the interns worked extremely hard and they were a joy to work alongside. If I were to give myself advice eight weeks ago from when I first started my internship I would suggest that you say yes to take part in different tasks – push yourself.”

 

 

Matthew Foster - FDMMatthew Foster, Academy Intern

 “Whilst at FDM, I have been able to develop various strengths. I have had the opportunity to work on four individual presentations since being here at the Leeds Academy, which has massively improved my confidence as well as my communication and presentation skills. Also, the fact that I have been able to work on so many different tasks and projects has allowed me to think analytically and critically, which is where I am most confident. If I were to give some advice to an intern who will be filling my shoes next year, I would tell them to be completely open to everything that is offered as part of being the academy intern. Working in the academy gives you so much autonomy to get involved with anything and everything.”

 

 

Kianna Leader - FDMKianna Leader, Sales Intern

“My main responsibility as a sales intern was to research the industries which FDM currently has clients’ in and track their relationships with FDM. The aim of this is to see if there are any other directions I think the company should be taking with regard to maintaining and creating new relationships. It is very researched focused as I am required to see what new initiatives the clients currently have and analyse the ways FDM could capitalise on them. The highlight of my internship was definitely when we presented to members of the board in our final week, it was a fantastic experience. Three words I would use to describe my internship experience would be challenging, motivating and rewarding.”

 

 

Jenna Haill - FDMJenna Haill, HR Intern

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at FDM. From my first day onwards, I have been given a wide range of tasks throughout my internship. I was surrounded by a supportive team who wanted me to get the most out of the experience. Everyone I have come across has been approachable, friendly and inclusive – I will be sad to leave at the end of the internship! Some of my weekly responsibilities have included vetting, responding to queries in the Consultant Support and the Human Resources inbox, the intern project and payroll admin, such as enrolling starters into the system. I have also carried out some interviews to help recruit internal staff and graduates for the training programme.”

 

 

Fiona Simons - FDMFiona Simons, Business Intelligence Intern

“Throughout my internship, I’ve worked on two Business Intelligence projects. The first was creating a Python course for data science. The second, which I am currently working on, is creating client overview dashboards. I am particularly enjoying this one and I am using SQL and PowerBI, both of which I hadn’t used prior to FDM but completed training in at FDM. I’ve really enjoyed my internship so far! Everyone in the office was lovely which I think makes a real difference. I have discovered that my strengths lie with SQL. I did SQL training last week and really enjoyed it and got full marks much to my own surprise. Summing up my internship experience I would say it was educational, fun and intense.”

 

 

Dominic Smith - FDMDominic Smith, Sales Intern

“Most of the difficulties I have encountered have been overcome just by asking the right people the right questions. It can seem intimidating at first when everyone is working so hard to ask about a problem you have. What I have realised is that despite how busy everyone is, they are always willing to help. Just know exactly what you want to ask so you can get straight to the solution. My internship has been excellent and really helped me gain clarity over what FDM do and how they operate. To end my eight-week internship, myself and the other interns from across the UK presented to the board regarding our intern group project. Knowing you’re presenting to members of the board brings pressure but I felt we all thrived from it. We excelled the most in responding to the questions they asked at the end. I thought we were very professional in how we dealt with our answers.”

 

 

Dillon - FDMDillon Lewis, Sales Intern

“I have really enjoyed my internship at FDM. I came into the experience with little idea of what to expect and I have been really pleasantly surprised with the responsibilities that I have been given. I have been kept busy doing meaningful and important work which has been able to challenge me. Overall, it has been a great and beneficial experience for me. From the Glasgow Sales Team, I was given the responsibility of assisting to arrange and organise the new client’s breakfast event. I have had the opportunity to work alongside the rest of FDM’s interns across Glasgow, Leeds and London. If I were to put myself back in the shoes I was in eight weeks ago on my first day, I would tell myself not to panic in situations that seem difficult, because after taking a step back and creating a plan with a logical approach, the task in question can be simplified and become a lot easier.”

 

 

Catherine Coumidis - FDMCatherine Coumidis, Marketing and Events Intern

“My internship at FDM has been extremely insightful. I have learnt a lot about various sectors within marketing and how the work I do fits into them. My two main projects have been to organise a consultant party in Paris along with marketing and designing the new FDM app as part of our intern project. I also was faced with day to day tasks of creating internal and external communications, market research, assisting with the organisation of events, and helping to organise and execute photo shoots for a variety of individuals from new starters to ex-forces. If I was to give myself advice eight weeks ago before I started my internship I would say to myself, don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask for help when needed and seek the opportunities where you can take on more work to learn. If I were to use three words to sum up my internship experience I would choose fun, insightful and eye-opening.”

 

 

From everyone at FDM, we would like to thank all of our amazing interns this year. You have all done an excellent job within each of your departments.

 

If you are interested in gaining valuable work experience at FDM, our applications will open for next year’s eight-week summer internships programme in November.