Internal Communications Review

I really enjoyed my placement. As with any job, there were positives and negatives, but overall I really enjoyed the year.

This is dependant on which colleagues; although most of them did make me feel valued. Everyone on site was really friendly, and I think this made a huge difference to my experience with Nissan.

This varied between manager, and through different times. I did feel that I was given some big responsibilities, but at the same time, it would have been good to get a bit more support throughout. I did feel that support was there when I needed it, but there was very little guidance and training specific to my role.

The majority of the year, I was very busy. Although most of the time this was manageable, I sometimes would have liked to have been able to focus more thoroughly on projects. As the role was split between corporate planning, internal communications & branding; I felt sometimes I didn't get the time to complete projects quite to the standard I would've liked. However, I did like the busy nature of the role, as it meant I was on my feet a lot, liaising with other departments, and never had a dull day sat at my desk with nothing to do!

I was given quite a lot of responsibility as the department was quite small. The department was 'Corporate Planning' (this was what the rest of my team spent most of their time on), so I was given quite a lot of responsibility in terms of communications and branding.

I believe that these skills, and the experience, have been hugely beneficial in terms of developing my understanding of the industry and giving me an insight into what I would and wouldn't like to do in the future. I also think this will also be hugely helpful in terms of university studies; as I will be able to use real world examples rather than thinking of everything as 'hypothetical'.

The atmosphere was good, and everyone in the office was really friendly. Our department worked a lot with other sections and departments, so it was really easy to get to know lots of people. This was one of the biggest benefits to the company... there was always a friendly face around and it was great getting to know so many great people.

The department was very much in the early stages of developing internal communications, so I think this could have been better. Nevertheless, there were great improvements made over the year and I can see that this will progress and develop hugely over the next year or two.

The only training I did have was organised by 'Nissan Europe' when they were launching our new company intranet; this was held in Amsterdam and was a great experience. However, other than this, I was given very little in the way of training to my specific role.

I would definitely consider working with Nissan again, but perhaps in their Sales & Marketing office in Maple Cross. I feel this would be more suited to my future career aspirations, as I would like to work in an environment more specific to Marketing.

There was a Facebook group set up for all the placement students to communicate and get to know each other. This was used more towards the beginning of placement (when people were looking for places to live etc.) There were a few events held throughout the year for Grads and Placement students, however I think this could have been better.

The office was based close to Milton Keynes; which has some good places to eat and go out.

There were a few good places to go out, but people tended to stick to the same place every time.

The Sports & Social club organised a few activities such as Snowboarding, Go Karting and Wakeboarding.