Careers

An interview with Heidi

Though it's a cliché, a two-month stint at RIG has really brought home to me how fast you learn by being thrown in at the deep end. I began with barely a weekend to transform from an artsy English student into a wily corporate consultant, the two-day turnaround between graduation and internship giving me limited opportunity to brush up on my knowledge of current markets and business economics. Yet even if I'd had time to do so, I very much doubt that books could have taught me what I learnt on the job.

I think it is a combination of RIG's size together with the company's vision for its employees that enabled me to draw so much from the internship. By the end of day one, I was on close terms with all my colleagues, something that would never happen at a larger organisation not least because if you got stuck in a lift, chances are it wouldn't have fitted the entire team in it at once. To cite another commonplace, I have found that good things do come in small packages; as part of a tight-knit group, even as an intern I was able to input a lot to the running of RIG's largest accounts, and feel that my efforts comprised a real, valuable contribution.

In terms of what RIG envisaged for me, January's blog post gives a fair idea of the company's approach. To quote, "we expect nothing less from our interns than to challenge us and to take the company in new directions." I ended my first day with a presentation to a Swedish CEO looming four weeks away. No pressure. The breezy feeling of being a 'just an intern' faded pretty quickly, as I realised that tea-making would not be top of my agenda. Far from it, since I was tasked with engaging new targets and new markets, and researching new approaches and new strategies; new not just for me, but for the company and clients as well.

Daunting though such responsibility might have been at first, it was this unusual way of treating an intern - trusting me with important work and asking me to think for myself - that gave me a real opportunity. Starting from scratch, but with the incentive of a trip to Sweden, I ended up with an alliance management programme that is now the blueprint for all of the client's partnerships, both on a local and international scale. Certainly I was challenged along the way, perhaps unexpectedly - I should have read the blog post in advance! - but I'd like to think that what I've achieved has been in direct proportion to the immensity of the tasks I've been given. Though I have found things difficult, I have also found them fun, even extraordinary, the experience opening my mind to the real possibilities that the business world has to offer when a small company has big ideas.

- Heidi, studying English at Cambridge University

Further interviews with interns

There are accounts available on our blog from our other Summer 2009 interns, Sandy and Zainul.