My Full-time MBA journey began in September 2021. Before this I was living in Peru and I worked in banking, retail, FMCG and insurance in commercial roles based on leveraging the retention and prospects of our customers, so it was great to dip my toe back in to this with my internship over the summer. I interned with TalkTalk, based out of their Manchester office.
During my internship I was placed in the commercial department focused on strategy and enhancing the customer experience. I was working on commercial propositions for the online accessories store to boost the consumer journey. It was a new perspective of the commercial department for me as pre–MBA I managed the customer base rather than the strategy, but I was able to develop my commercial awareness as I had a broader scope on how to generate revenue for the business.
The internship has been an amazing addition to my experiences working and learning abroad. TalkTalk fosters a working environment with a variety of opportunities that not many companies offer. During my time working there I joined the women in business community. It was an incredible experience because I was able to share my experience of working in industry with other community members as well as learning from them. I was able to attend trailblazing tech conferences organised by Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) and several partners, so I was able to learn even more about the industry, its trends, opportunities and the role of women within it.
I also valued the constant follow up I received during the internship by the early careers manager. We received a full induction, a meeting with TalkTalk’s CEO and also a final presentation. The support I had from my mentor during my internship was fundamental because he helped me to reinforce hard and soft skills that will help in the short and long term in my life and professional career.
I learnt a lot from my internship. Setting tangible and achievable goals despite the timeframe. My project during this internship had a three-month timeline so I had to be sure to set clear objectives so I would produce concise findings. I learnt skills such as using resources within your budgets and also recognising stakeholders that will assist me in being able to achieve my project goals.
The internship gave me hands-on experience in business alongside the academic learning gained from the MBA and my background in business administration gave me an amazing toolkit, allowing me to make the most of my time at TalkTalk. I applied the learnings from strategy and strategic commercial management courses as these were aligned with my project. The entire course assisted me in revamping the business case because I had another perspective on how to manage stakeholders’ expectations, financial resources allocation and achievable objectives.
For my final presentation with TalkTalk, I worked alongside three other interns from the Full-time MBA at AMBS who so happen to be female and from South America. Our mentors, colleagues, friends and staff from AMBS attended to support us. My project required me to make recommendations to boost customer experience, their purchase journey and website traffic based on the portfolio allocation, commercial partnerships and finding new revenue streams for Talk Talk’s online accessories store. I showcased the current situation of the online store and I developed a roadmap focused on opportunities for the future such as the inclusion of smart tech accessories, commercial propositions and a cost-benefit analysis for the commercial partnerships.
