M&G Investments is one of the UK’s largest and longest established investment houses, with more than 80 years’ experience (M&G Investments). It is a business running its own retail and industrial funds operation and functioning as the asset manager for Prudential in Europe. M&G was established in 1931 and is one of the UK’s oldest and most highly regarded active investors M&G is able to offer a variety of opportunities and hand over responsibilities and recognition from day one. Currently M&G is the official sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Each department has different requirements for students, but this investment house is considered to be one of the most helpful for undergraduate students. The exact job description given by Target jobs M&G Investments is
“You will be placed in one of the 4 different HR teams where you will work closely with senior management and colleagues to expand your range of skills and competencies. At the same time, you will be expected to make a genuine contribution to the organization’s success from a very early stage.”
This shows that during this internship the most important skills developed are going to be team work, communication and problem solving. (Target jobs, M&G Investments)
The chosen internship that I would be most interested in applying for between stages 2 and 3 of my studies would be the Human Resources Internship Scheme. This internship is looking for candidates that have a significant interest in Human Resources (HR) and have good interpersonal and communication skills as it is required, given the nature of it. In addition, the requirements of this particular internship are quite high which shows how credible it is. In detail, it needs a minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree from any discipline and have 300 UCAS points or equivalent. The Human Resources (HR) internship scheme puts students in one of the 4 different HR teams where they will be able to develop their skills and have a better understanding of what pursuing a career in HR really means. At the same time they are expected to make a contribution to the organization. The four teams that each intern has to choose from are; the Generalist Teams, the Learning & Talent Development (L&TD), the Reward and the Recruitment. Before intern chooses, he/she are given a brief description of each team in order for them to decide which is better suited for them. (Target jobs, Human Resources Internship Scheme)
After completing the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme with Business and Management in the Higher level courses, the most appealing sector of the business course was the Human resources chapter. Jobs that include people interactions in a daily basis have always seemed to be the most suitable area of expertise for me to follow. That is why an internship in such a job will help me see if that is true. I have chosen this particular firm as it is considered one of the most established investment houses in the UK and has 80 years of experience. M&G Real Estate is a top 25 global real estate fund manager which makes it even more appealing to me. Finally by cooperating with successful people in a business motivates me even more to become like them.
The grades required for each internship are definitely important and necessary, but sometimes that may not be enough as the skills each individual requires to have are of significant importance. In all three years of a bachelor degree one learns how to develop his/hers skills, collaborate well with others, organise their work and handle work well under pressure. One important thing identified in the internship is learning how to use these skills in real life and real work. The important skills, as seen in the job description that was aforementioned, that are identified in the internship are team work, communication and problem solving. Furthermore, and probably most important, the interpersonal skills that are developed are the ones interns must leave with. In detail, interacting professionally with customers and colleagues; tolerating and having respect for views of others; having interest in others and what is important to them is something all interns must do.
Team work is an important skill that should start being developed in school and making it even better in University. From the first year of an undergraduate degree one can see the importance of team work as in all courses there is a task that has to be done with a group. For example, in my Business Modelling module there was a group project from the first semester. This was an experience that included cooperation with others; working on common objectives, willing to compromise when you disagree; sharing information/ knowledge with others; and supporting others. Basically all these factors are what create a reliable definition of team work. A factor that I saw ensure the successful work of the team was leadership, every team needs a member with good leadership skills. A leader is someone that agrees mutually acceptable targets; motivates others; accepts views and ideas from others (even if not shared) and helps in resolving conflicts in the group. Organisational goals cannot be achieved by people working alone. Most activities require some degree of coordination and co-operation that can only be achieved through individuals working together in groups and teams. Finally a management skill that is considered very important when working in teams is the planning and organising. This skill is important in both individual and team work, but without a team is almost unable to be successful. Every member of each needs to have a certain task, usually at the part he/she is best at, without it there would be chaos in a team with disagreements and confusion for who is responsible for what. Structured step-by-step approach; comfortably switching between tasks/problems and adapting change in the light of new information is without a doubt something that improves the work of a team, something I saw in my own experience of the group project.
M&G Investments’ Human Resources Internship Scheme shows the importance of team work from the very first day by placing interns in teams. The first team is the Generalist Team which provides general HR support to the business, including candidate interview to a performance management meeting, a discussion about a restructure, a query around immigration, a discussion about career progression to mediating in a conflict or dealing with a dismissal.