Project support administator Review

I enjoyed my placement as it was an area at which I want to go into, project management. However the project that I was working on was only 6-7months long which meant for the remaining months I had to find other work to do, this resulted me in doing some admin work within Human resources which I did not enjoy as this is not a field I wish to work within.

My manager and colleagues really took the time to congratulate and help me with my placement - I couldn't have asked for anymore support. Before my project went live all of my colleagues took the time out of there work to check over what I had written to see whether it could have been improved, this also gave me confidence when it went live.

I was given support the whole way through my placement. My manager was always there and she always told me that she was available if I needed to chat about any concerns or issues I may have had. My team leader was always cheerful and willing to stop what she was doing and help me with any questions I had. I really appreciated she was prepared to drop something she was doing at the time and help me.

Due to people resigning when my project finished meant I needed to support the team therefore workloads were massive. I felt sometimes obliged to work overtime however I was not entitled to this so I always wanted to go home on time, although I took pride in my work there was too much at times.

Due to my project manager being put on another project during my project this meant I needed to go to a lot of meetings with directors and managers and present findings to them and receive feedback. I also needed to arrange these meetings which sometimes deemed to be fairly tricky. It was a huge sense of pride once the project launched as I know I had my own spin on the development.

I felt I have learned a lot, knowledge based not so much. More skills I have learned during this time, for example how to speak to random colleagues, I managed to develop my softer skills which I can take for life. My management has already said she has seen me grow so much. I have not only developed skills during my time in industry I have felt myself become a more professional candidate. It has made me more determined for when I go back to university and finish my degree. It has made me realise I want to work hard to achieve good things within life instead of coasting to my goal. I recommend anyone who is interested or partially interested in doing a placement.

I felt my office was some what quiet - however I feel this is due to my last job working in retail where I am constantly walking around talking to people. People within the office were always polite and said hello and smiled, I not only felt this was professional it gave me a sense of pride to work for such a friendly company.

I would argue before my placement my project was well thought out because they tried to launch the project a few year prior I started working. This did not work as they needed someone to be able to dedicate there full working time to the project, hence why I was employed. When it launch my work for after the project was not well thought out as I was a bit spare for a few weeks until I found myself another job.

I was never pushed to go on training which I felt was a bit of a shame as I would have liked to leave with maybe a further IT education or presentational skills, it may have enhanced my CV more. I did go on Excel training but it was a beginners course and it was very easy. I know when another intern started work 2016-2017 she was put on every training for about two weeks so I know they have invested a lot of time and money within her. However I think with my project I wasn't really required to do much training, it would have just been nice to learn an extra qualification.

I would come work for Volvo again within a different department. I would however like to look at other job opportunities this is due to I will have more to talk about within the future. While I am still young I want to experience a few different jobs which I know can benefit me for my future.

The social scene was not what I thought it would have been. There wasn't much time outside of work where I saw my colleagues. The only time was leaving dues or a wedding which we attended. I felt this was a bit of a shame as I would have wanted to see my fellow colleagues outside of work and got to know them more on a personnel leave to build more of a relation with them. I got on really well within everyone in my department/office however I know within other offices/departments they do a lot more social stuff which I would have liked to join in within. I felt that more team building exercises/days would have been very beneficial.

I got paid for my placement which is always a bonus, however I was still living away from home so I was still paying top prices for living accommodation. I felt that during my placement I might have been able to save a few hundred pounds a month. I didn't save anything during this placement due to accommodation and insurance prices. I was able to get by with the money I had this year however I found myself still buying cheap food and not really buying new things such as clothes or eating out as much. I understand you need to start somewhere where it comes to money and work my way up so I was humble to get paid. I know that the new years interns have received a pay increase, this may be due to the amount of work that us interns actually do. My years placement was the first year for an intern so I guess it was more of a trial year.

As stated above the only time we would go out was during an occasion such as a leaving due or a birthday. Even when we would go out it would usually be for food and then most people would go home afterwards so the atmosphere wasn't always there. I felt if we had more nights out together there would have been more time to bond as a team.

Nothing really came up outside of work to get involved within, I had friends within marketing and they were always getting involved in Truckfest which is a weekend away around the country. There are so many events a year, this made me quite jealous as they was able to go away with work and I would hear about the times they had. They also had the chance to travel to Sweden for work which is always an experience, however I spent every day within the office.