IT Analyst Review

I believe that Vauxhall offers one of the best placements in terms of enjoyment both in and outside of the workplace. There were always activities both during and after work hours whether it being departmental events (Rounders, Quizzes, Dodgeball...) or going to corporate events such as the Home Nations Football and car shows, ensuring that there was something to look forward to each day external to your daily work responsibilities. There were always opportunities to broaden your knowledge and take on new projects, which ensured that you were never able to be bored of a piece of work given that very shortly you would start something new. I really enjoyed this placement as I was always able to do different things on a daily basis, which was something that was very important for me personally.

Generally I felt very valued at Vauxhall/GM. With my manager being based in Germany, it meant that I was able to manage myself more independently than other placement students, which gave me a great sense of responsibility for my time and project management. Whilst this was difficult to start with, I felt this approach was invaluable to my learning experience as I was not micromanaged at any point throughout the placement. The projects that I worked on had genuine significance to the business which made me feel very valued whilst working here. There were a few minor issues with a select few peoples approach in terms of behaviour towards interns, however these issues were resolved.

With my manager being based abroad, it meant that I was not able to rely on my manager helping me with small tasks and requests, but instead I had to be self-driven to learn and complete the tasks on my own, something in which I believe I have greatly benefitted from. This laissez faire management style approach worked for me tremendously given the learning curve and ability to make decisions. With weekly team meetings between my manager and undergraduate colleague, and biweekly one to one meetings with my manager, I felt that I was supported both professionally and personally should any issues arise from a non-technical standpoint. In terms of technical guidance, Vauxhall/GM has a great network of resources to learn from, whether it is the online technical courses or talking to other colleagues across the world with experience in certain areas.

I found that for the majority of the placement I was very busy with workloads. Given the nature of the role, there were always requests to support people in the business and in IT with SharePoint, as well project work which was essentially building an application in SharePoint. The need for support and SharePoint will almost always be present in large amounts, meaning that once something was completed, there was always something else both my colleague and I could be doing afterwards, and in order to keep ourselves from getting bored, we ensured that we always had a strong pipeline of work to be completed after the completion of something else. This ensured that we were always learning and never had the opportunity to sit around doing nothing, something that I am very pleased about.

As one of the two dedicated SharePoint developers/support analysts the job role came with very large amounts of responsibility across all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, although primarily all work came from Europe or the US from our indirect manager in Detroit. We are responsible for key business sites such as reporting absences, employee engagement, financial approval sites and various other sites that play a key role in the businesses operations. Managing these sites comes with large responsibility given the access levels we are granted, therefore we are trusted not to abuse the permissions we are given.

In order to maintain a constant level of learning and personal development during my time at Vauxhall, I set myself goals of undertaking many training courses that were available through the online training system. Unfortunately I was not able to take part in all the courses I had planned, but I believe I have learnt far more in practical on the job training. Working with SharePoint on a daily basis has given me plenty of experience with the software, as well as hosting European support calls to further explore the area of troubleshooting. I have confidence in the level of learning and knowledge development I have been exposed to at Vauxhall, and believe that it will certainly prepare me for my future career and education.

The atmosphere within the office was almost always positive. I found everyone to be very welcoming and happy to share experiences and knowledge with younger members of the team. There were always opportunities to socialize with colleagues both within and outside of work hours which made networking and social integration a lot easier.

I found the placement to be very well organised during the handover period, with schedules for talks being released very early on to new undergraduates. During the first week we were able to hear from all directors of the business, the managing director and other key speakers representing areas of the business that will likely affect us as undergraduates. During this time we were given all of the resources we needed such as ID badges, stationary, computers and various other things that we would need. There was also very good planning throughout the placement with events being organised throughout the year to ensure that we were enjoying the social side of work as well as the business side of it.

I believe that Vauxhall certainly has the training mechanisms and resources in place to help invest in employees, however each employee must spend the time to go and find these resources and complete them, which can prove to be difficult at times. However, I was able to take part in a quite a few training courses which I learnt a large amount from. The majority of training and investment here at Vauxhall is done through on the job training, which was great in a role such as mine. I found that I learnt a lot through this method, and feel a lot more knowledgeable that when I began the placement one year ago.

In terms of future employment at Vauxhall, I believe that this is done through a graduate scheme where a previous undergraduate can either be contacted to come back or can apply for a role in a similar area. I do not know exactly how this process works, but it is something I will be finding out before the completion of my placement as I would be very keen on returning to Vauxhall after completing my degree.

I believe that there was a very good social scene whilst here at Vauxhall. There were many different activities that could be undertaken including nights out at clubs and bars, sports such as Dodgeball, Football and Rounders, Academic actives such as quizzes and competitions. All of these events were organised internally to be done both inside and outside of work hours. I found that I took part in most events as it was a good opportunity to socialize with other undergraduates as well as employees who have been with Vauxhall for many years.

Luton was very cheap compared to London where I go to University. The rent was £420 including bills, and nights out could be done very cheaply also given the location. The University of Bedfordshire is local to the area, meaning that we could often benefit from attending student targeted events which are usually less expensive in areas in which students are not so common.

I did not attend many nights out given that I usually spent the weekends away playing sport. However on the nights I did go out, I found them to be very enjoyable. There were not too many options in terms of going to clubs and bars, therefore nights out were a lot less common compared to my time at a London University.

Given that Vauxhall sponsors the home nation's football, there were many football related events in which employees could play or attend footballing events. I was able to win amazing tickets next to the England bench for the England Vs Portugal game at Wembley Stadium. There were also many opportunities to get involved in other corporate events, however I did not get the chance to take up many of these given my personal commitments.