Product Marketign Assistant at SEAT Review

My placement at Volkswagen is being extremely enjoyable. As I am constantly exposed to real work rather than projects, I am truly immersing myself in the experience of working for a large firm. Furthermore, my department constantly organises socials and day's out, so I still have a university experience so to say

I was constantly asked to give my insight on several of their projects, which meant I felt of value on a day to day basis. Furthermore, while my job was not project based, I was put in charge of the department inbox, so a lot of trust was put to me, which meant I always felt valuable. Also, I have been asked to help out in other departments too, as my international perspective is seen as valuable

Support was constant at VW, as I have a recurring 1 to 1 with my manager, I have constantly been given guidance as to where I have done well and what areas need improvement, as well as an informal talk where we can talk about my experience with the company. In essence, throughout my placement, I have had support every step of the way, whether it is from the colleague next to me or from a different brand altogether.

I can admit I was busy at all times. This may well be thanks to the nature of my role, which is an actual job rather than a simple internship where the odd project is completed and where your only job is being an administrator to the manager. I often find myself working all day at an intense rate, and I find this very rewarding as I am experiencing a real work environment. Due to this, time flies!!

Responsibility on my role has always being incredibly high. I managed the department inbox and was the main point of contact for dealer support as well as configurator employees. This meant that I truly felt valuable in the company. I often did the same job as the graduates sitting next to me, and was never asked to make tea or do photocopies!

The main skills I developed which will aid me in the future are an extensive set of IT skills which I did not have before, working effectively under pressure, meeting deadlines which were given with a short amount of time, and also general work life in the office, because while I did modules of this at university, I never experienced this first time until my placement.

Within VW I worked at the SEAT brand. This meant that there was quite a young workforce as the brand targeted this type of customer. This meant that everyone was up for a laugh but also knew when and how to work hard. Therefore, there was a huge work hard play hard atmosphere. There were never any dull days and I got to know my team members so well that I often saw them out of the office

Well organised, as we had deadlines of things every month and also a 3 month probation. My university helped to manage the organisation

L&D at VW is very extensive. There are three levels. License to operate, where training is given to be able to complete day to day tasks and operate efficiently, license to manage, for people who aspire to be managers one day, and license to lead, which is aimed at more senior levels. I constantly aimed for a breath of license to operate modules including excel. There were also mandatory modules such as competitor law as we needed to be aware of this. Language classes were given to those who were eventually going to work abroad, so not for placement students.

While we are not invited directly to the graduate assessment centre, a future job at VW is very appealing and they invest a lot in us, which means they truly believe we are going to be future leaders, and thus prioritise us if we are looking for a job in the future. This being said, they also consider people from outside for future jobs, which is understandable

We were 40 placement students and we often met for dinner or nights out. Basically, it felt like we are at Uni, only we actually had work the next day! furthermore, because HR chose students from a breadth of universities, we were all different in our ways and thus we got a long well and shared our experiences.

Costs of housing in Milton Keynes are extremely expensive. If you look well you may find a reasonable price, but houses do not come up very often. Also, because it is not a University town, you need an HMO license if you want to share with more than 3 people. This meant many landlords wanted nothing to do with us as it was more expensive for them. It is also close to London, so other items apart from housing such as transport is also expensive

Because MK is not a university town, there were not many clubs at all, so nightlife was poor. There were a few pubs, but these were very expensive. We mainly resorted to going out to the cheaper bars and at home. However, London is only 40 minutes away, so nightlife there is accessible and much better

Charitable days were extensive at VW, but apart from that there was not that much more.