Graduate Internship Programme 2025

What motivated me was the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a professional setting. Previously, this was something I did not have which made it harder to do as well as I would have liked in other job applications. The different areas I could work in was also really appealing as the skills would be highly transferable. I remember one of the roles wasn’t as suited to me and after speaking to the team, they went out of their way to help me find something that would be more suitable. Ultimately, the appeal was learning new skills that I can take forward into any role I go into, whether it be the soft skills or more technical ones.

My role was working in the marketing insight team. I had the opportunity to work with a great group of people who were all very knowledgeable. The experience was good because I had the opportunity to work on a range of different projects. For instance, I helped with projects related to clearing, apprenticeships, study programmes, open days, while also analysing student surveys. In terms of responsibilities, I really appreciated the varied nature as some days I had to conduct research and analysis, help create presentations, and in others, I helped clean data on excel which was a new experience. I also gained experience of using Google Analytics which was great. I was involved in the team meetings too, where I was encouraged to contribute. The key thing for me was that I felt I belonged in the team and the work I was doing contributed to the bigger picture.

I developed many skills during this internship. Firstly, the soft skills. To be honest, I am someone who has always been a quite introverted but this experience allowed me to go out of my comfort zone by working with new people. They were all super friendly and great to work with. I studied in Leicester for three years and had a great time but the positive work there too makes it even better. By the end, I definitely felt more confident to contribute to meetings. I also worked in a team which meant my team working skills improved. Working in a team on things like University projects is much different than in a work setting, and to have this experience was valuable. I learnt how to collaborate effectively but also the importance of asking for help. My manager Iain, always went out of his way to support me whenever I was unsure about anything and even encouraged me to ask. The same with the rest of the team. I also learnt key technical skills too. Firstly, I was able to improve my skills in Excel. For example, data cleaning, pivot tables and data analysis. These are skills that are highly sought after. I also improved on my data visualisation and attention to detail by contributing to the creation of presentations.

Since completing this internship, I have secured a number of graduate schemes at some top employers while also making it to the final stages of many others. Some examples include the FCA, Morrisons, KPMG, Deloitte and Grant Thornton where I have accepted my role working in Technology Consulting in London. The internship was definitely a contributor to my success as it gave me so many examples to draw from in interviews. For instance, working in a team, analysing data, overcoming challenges, etc. Interviewers were also very interested to hear more about my experience. While I did complete my degree and achieved a great grade, from my experience, this internship was equally as important to them. Finally, this internship also gave me the confidence I needed because of the professional development over the 6 weeks.