Holly Mattinson

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: Atos

When deciding what degree scheme I wanted to study, I was drawn to the BBA Management with a year in industry as I felt it would allow me the opportunity to gain insight into how a business runs knowing that it would only be for a year. I also felt that it would allow me the opportunity to find out how a role is done in the ‘real world’.

My role as a Change Co-ordinator, meant I was responsible for protecting the service to Atos’ customers by evaluating the risk and impact of technical changes. As part of my internship, I had the opportunity to shadow different functions within the SMC, including Marketing, Problem and Incident Management and the Service Desk. This provided greater insight into how Change Management fits in with the other departments to bring value to the customer. I also had the opportunity to gain a qualification in ITIL Foundation in IT Service Management V3. Additionally, there were opportunities outside of my day-to-day role that I had the chance to be a part of, including: aiding in the creation of a welcome pack for customers visiting the site; creating online spaces on the internal networking communication tool to allow more effective communication; and participated in the knowledge transfer of an off-shoring account.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience as an intern and have tried to make the most of every opportunity that has been presented to me. I have met some incredible people who have shown me just how invaluable networking can be in business. I would highly recommend completing a placement year as I feel I have learnt a lot of skills that are difficult to teach in a lecture hall.

My favourite part of my placement was the people I met. Being based in Crewe, meant that I was based with the majority of my team. They were very supportive throughout my internship and I always felt that I could go to anyone on my team and ask for their help or ask a question. I also met the other graduates in Crewe early on in my placement and they were very welcoming and friendly.

As an intern, I have the option to return as a graduate without having to go through the entire graduate recruitment process; all I need to do is an interview with HR and the area that I want to go into. I am not required to attend an assessment centre. In the meantime, I will be returning to University to complete my final year. As part of my final year, I am required to write my dissertation. I had a lot of support throughout my internship in doing research for my dissertation, for example doing a questionnaire and then follow up in-depth interviews. This has made a huge difference in preparing for my final year. Also, through my placement, I had exposure to the wider business by shadowing other areas, such as the Marketing department; I believe this will help me in my modules for my final year as I will have a real-life context in which to relate the course material.

Prior to applying for my internship, the LUMS offered a lot of support with the application process. There were workshops for completing the psychometric tests, preparing for interviews etc. There was a day organised for my course that allowed the opportunity to practise attending an assessment centre. I found this invaluable, as it gave me the chance to practice so that when I was attending a real assessment centre, I would know what to expect. The LUMS Careers Team also has links to fourth years that have gone through the whole experience and talking to them helped to calm any nerves I had around what to expect from my placement year.